


The Unopened Door

by SanguineNoctis



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Everyone else is an Alpha or a Beta, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Loki Whump, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Loki, Past Sexual Abuse, Pheromones, Poor Loki, Protective Thor, Rape, Violence, a What If for the movie, but again not really, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2017-12-16 00:43:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/855833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SanguineNoctis/pseuds/SanguineNoctis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Loki went into heat every few hundred years, and what if it happened right in the middle of his invasion of Earth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever read an Omegaverse story? Well, this isn't one, but it sure is close. No alphas or betas or omegas, at least not in name. This story is basically a re-write of _The Avengers_ , a "what-if" scenario. Like, "What if Loki went into heat every few hundred years and what if that had happened right in the middle of the movie?" Sadly for Loki, he's an omega and everyone else is alphas or betas. Earth is completely unchanged (I don't like the necessary socio-biological changes to history that Omegaverse fics have to add for it to make sense), I've only messed with Jotunheim's culture, which we won't be seeing here.
> 
> I would also like to clarify, because of my 'past sexual abuse' tag that seemed to confuse some people, this story _does_ contain explicit rape, and several times.

The blast pushed Loki back onto the steps behind him, the kinetic force was strong, but his magic kept him intact - although it still hurt.

"Make a move, reindeer games," said a mechanized voice behind the red and gold flying armor, arms up, ready for another attack should Loki move.

 _Ah, the Iron Man_ , Loki thought, amused. Barton had told him everything. He had nothing to fear from these so-called  _heroes_. Even so, he didn't wish to be hit again, and anyway, all was going according to plan.

So Loki raised both arms in surrender, still wary but certain the Hawk's words would prove true, that the heroes of SHIELD wouldn't harm him if he surrendered to their custody.

X - X

The two mortals spoke incessantly after they entered the flying vehicle, especially the man of iron. Loki had very little use for idle mortal conversation yet he listened, there was no such thing as  _useless_ information, not to say information couldn't be  _boring_.

The Iron Man especially - Tony Stark - was prone to inane prattle, and the captain often appeared as confused as Loki by some of the armored man's words.

Although the god of mischief listened to the mortals, he was slowly becoming aware of a strange sensation growing in his chest; a warm kind of purring. He adjusted his weight on the seat and frowned.  _What could it be? Surely neither mortal has injured me terribly..._  He squirmed a little, trying to get a feel for whatever this odd feeling was, which was getting stronger by the minute.

"Hey, you okay?" asked the man out of time suddenly.

Loki paid him no heed, still trying to figure out the sensation. He shook his head, annoyed that anything might possibly interfere with his plans.  _No... everything is going so well. What is this?!_

He suddenly felt a pain at the back of his head and his hand jerked up to cradle it. It wasn't his intention to show weakness, but the pain was so unexpected he couldn't help the involuntary motion.

The blonde mortal neared. "Woah, what's wrong? You don't look so good."

"He looks  _fine_ to me," said the Iron Man. A glance at him showed a strange smirk; an odd look in his eye.

The captain, Steve Rogers, stood bent over slightly, worried expression on his face. "He's not fine, Stark. Hey," a fingertip on Loki's shoulder for a moment, then it was gone, "are you okay?"

Loki furrowed his brow and stared at the floor as the pain in his head began to subside. He nodded absent-mindedly. Why would the mortal care?

Unfortunately, the warm feeling in his chest, while slightly subdued, hadn't gone away completely. It hummed in his core, like a slow-burning fire that didn't seem likely to go out anytime soon.

Rogers was still leaned over, close to him.

"Cap," said the other mortal, "why don't you step back?" Oddly, the comment sounded less like concern and more like warning. But a warning against who?

A glance at the Iron Man showed him staring - almost  _glaring_  - at the captain.

"Stark?" asked Rogers. His voice was laced with concern, clearly he was just as confused by his comrade's behavior as Loki.

"I  _said_ ," intoned Stark, walking closer, "step  _away_  from him." And now it was clear that the warning was for Rogers, against  _Stark himself._

Loki's confusion grew; Rogers' clearly was, too.

"Tony-"

"Are you deaf? Because I  _really_  hate repeating myself. What? Frozen seawater still stuck in your ears?"

Rogers scoffed, confusion mixed with indignity. "What's gotten into you, Stark?" Even so, the captain stepped away from Loki, apparently not wanting a confrontation with his fellow mortal.

A female voice called from the front, "What's going on back there?"

"Nothing," answered Stark immediately, voice flat. The mortal then walked toward the god, eyes fixed on Rogers. "You just stay the hell away from him,  _captain_."

"What?" said Rogers in exasperation.

When the Iron Man reached Loki, he knelt and finally broke his gaze on the other mortal. To the god he said: "Don't mind him, he's been frozen too long; brain damage or something, probably." The words sounded like a jest, but his tone didn't.

"He-" began Loki, baffled about both what was happening to him, and to the two mortals. "He did nothing to me..."

"Oh?" Stark leaned closer. "Well that's good. You need anything, anything at all, you just ask me. Tony Stark," he winked, "at your service."

Loki's eyes were wide with his brow furrowed, staring at the mortal. He leaned back when the mortal leaned in more.  _What is he doing-?_

"Stark?" asked the captain, voice firm, but the mortal before Loki didn't seem to hear him.

All at once it hit him; Loki knew what this was - what it could be.  _But it can't be!_  His eyes blew wider, suddenly he didn't see the man before him, too caught up in this new possibility.  _No, no, no... it's not... It_ can't  _be! Not now! Please not now..._  His eyes darted around, thinking. He put the pieces together; the warm feeling in his chest, the splitting headache that dissipated quickly, the mortal's strange behavior. He shut his eyes tight and lowered his head.  _No..._

He opened his eyes and flinched when he heard the other mortal yell, "Stark!" a hand on his comrade's shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"What's it to you?" said Stark angrily, straightening up. He stood in front of Loki, as if blocking him from the other's view. "You think you can do better than me, huh?" He jabbed a finger into the captain's chest. "He's  _mine_ ," growled Iron Man.

" _What?_ " the captain's surprised look matched Loki's, except for different reasons; Loki knew why the armored mortal was acting this way.

 _Oh no, please, not now... not now- why now?!_  He had a mission to complete,  _I can't... I can't deal with this now!_  And what effect would it have on the mortals, anyway? So far the man of iron's reaction was what was expected - but why did the captain seem unaffected so far?

"You heard me," growled out Stark.

A flash of light distracted everyone a moment. Loki heard the woman - Natasha Romanoff - mumble something while they all stared out the windows.  _Lightning..._  It clicked immediately.  _Thor!_

Stark turned around to face the god. "Hey," he said, an armored hand on the side of Loki's face. "You okay? Is the storm scaring you?" The god was still too surprised by everything to acknowledge the hand on his face.  _Thor... Thor is coming._

Something  _thunked_  on the top of the flying vehicle. The Iron Man cursed and put on his helmet.

_Thor is here._

X - X

The crash landing jarred Loki to his bones.  _Why must Thor always throw me about?_  He couldn't count the amount of times his once-brother had injured him, presumably by accident, whilst transporting Loki by flight - and most of the time without first consulting the mischief god.

He didn't exactly expect Thor to be  _gentle_ , but some consideration for his brother - former or not - surely couldn't be too much trouble for the thunderer.

As quickly as he could - which was not quick at all - Loki stumbled to his feet and walked toward Thor.

"Thor," he began, but the look in the thunder god's eyes, of irritation bordering on wrath, gave him pause. But only for a moment. "Thor," he started again, "I know you're angry with me, but you have to-"

"I am in no mood for your games, Loki; tell me where the Tesseract is and we may leave this world. You-"

"Leave?" Loki asked, incredulous. "And go where? Back to Asgard? Back to my  _family_? No, I have no home."  _Why am I speaking of this now? I have no time for-_

"If that is true then you have made it so." Thor dropped Mjolnir and walked toward him with a purpose.

"Thor, wait," Loki held up both hands placatingly. Despite his  _overwhelming_  desire to verbally spar with his not-brother, he had far more important things to worry about right now.

"For what? For you to use the Tesseract for your own ends? Or is it another's will you-"

" _Please_ , stop speaking for just a moment?" Loki said as delicately as he could. Unfortunately it seemed to have the opposite effect he was intending as Thor stepped forward and grabbed his shoulders; Loki would have stepped back if there were not a cliff right behind him.

"Then speak if you have something to say!" boomed Thor, obviously not happy to be so interrupted.

The two stared at each other for a silent moment, then Loki finally blurted out: "I'm in heat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you guys think? Most chapters will be longer than this, so this is maybe more of a prologue. I've already written most of this story so updates should be fairly consistent, except maybe when we get toward the end as I've yet to write the last few chapters (I want to see people's reactions before I write the ending). This should also mean it won't interfere with my writing _Hollow Skies_ , so fans of that fic, don't worry! ^^


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 was too short, I thought I'd get the ball rolling better with chapter 2, so here ya go! (Sorry if Loki seems a bit OOC, but I think it's a crazy situation so who knows how he would react, right? ^^)

The look on Thor's face was priceless until a blur of red and gold passing by stopped it. The man of iron tackled the thunder god down the slope and into the nearby forest.

Although the fight would have been quite entertaining to watch under other circumstances, Loki simply didn't want the risk of being found by someone while his brother -  _not brother_  - was occupied. He looked around. Well, there wasn't much chance of that... Unless the other mortals aboard the flying machine somehow landed.

Loki strained to hear for a moment and heard the Iron Man say something about not taking his  _stuff_.  _What- Is he referring to_ me _?_  The god rolled his eyes.  _Oh, lovely._

A flash of lightning lit the sky as the two continued fighting.

It  _had_  been Loki's intention to board the flying fortress known as  _Helicarrier_ , but now it seemed a poor idea. Even so, Agent Barton was meant to rescue him from  _there_ , not here on this desolate mountain.

The trickster sighed. If the man of iron's reaction was any indication, Loki  _did not_  want to board the flying fortress. How many more mortals would be affected? He did not wish to find out.

So, as loath as Loki was to do, he watched the fight and hoped that his former brother would win over the mortal - not that there was any question...

He didn't see the other until the shield was already flying. The captain jumped off his high perch, expertly landing and walking toward the other two. There was a staring a contest, a few words spoken, then, predictably, Thor somehow leveled the forest in a spectularly unnecessary display of power.

"Are we done here?" said the red, white and blue mortal.

Loki sighed again.  _Now to the helicarrier..._ At least Thor was here.

X - X

Men with masks walked toward them after they exited the quinjet, Thor and Loki in tow. The Iron Man had been convinced, after copious amounts of yelling and growling - mostly on his part and Thor's, to fly outside of the small jet toward the helicarrier.

He was nowhere in sight and Loki was glad of it. What he was  _not_  glad of were the restraints fastened to his wrists behind his back, and it wasn't as though he could  _test_  the metal right now.

"Thor," he said quickly as they walked into the belly of the metal fortress. "You know I can't stay here; the mortal, Stark, he's already been affected. I can't stay here-"

"Loki, what are you asking of me? You know Asgard would be safest. Tell me where the cube is and we may leave-"  
"No!" Loki felt the word forced out, as though he hadn't said it himself. Thor raised a brow at him as they walked. "I mean..." he fumbled for words, he  _never_  fumbled for words.

But before he could say anything one of his escorts, a man equal in height to himself, asked of Loki, "So you're from Asgard?"

Loki rolled his eyes and ignored him as Thor stepped between the two. "We are," said Thor in response, although the mortal leaned to eye the mischief god instead, apparently not interested in speaking to the blonde.

_Damned pheromones._

The entourage walked passed a man Loki recognized as 'Banner', who was meant to be a part of his escape plan, but he paid him little attention and instead turned to Thor.

"See there, Thor? It's already begun; you know what will happen if I stay here!" he half-whispered through his teeth.

"If you are so worried, brother, then tell me where the Tesseract-"

"I will  _not_  tell you where it is."

"Then I cannot take you from here," said Thor, looking ahead as if he hadn't a care in the realm.

Loki gritted his teeth in frustration, then began to notice how two more of his escort were starting to look at him.  _How wonderful. I'm in a ship full of mortals who hate me - would probably not give a second thought to harming me - and Thor apparently thinks there's nothing to worry about. Of course._

Fortunately, they soon arrived at an odd looking glass room, which was apparently his cell.

X - X

For whatever reason, the man named Fury seemed completely unaffected by Loki's pheromones, similarly to the captain. Likewise, while nearly half of his escort seemed affected, the other half merely appeared... confused, almost in a daze.

Thor, of course, wasn't affected, and thankfully, never had been before. Even the thought of Thor- Loki shuddered to think, so he  _didn't_  think about it.

The cell was, in a word, boring. There really wasn't much to it except glass walls and a place to sit. Mechanical 'eyes' called  _cameras_  - if he remembered correctly -watched him. There were two guards, one of whom seemed to be a little  _too_  interested in the imprisoned god of mischief.

Loki rolled his head around in frustration, landing his face in his hands.  _That fool_ , he thought of Thor,  _why does he allow them to leave guards? Is his memory so poor he can't recall what has always happened in Asgard when I was in heat?_  Of course, it had been over a hundred years since it last happened. Perhaps Thor  _didn't_  really remember.

His parents -  _not parents_  - had locked him away,  _for his own good_ , they had said, every time it happened. No one understood exactly  _why_  it happened, however. Now it seemed obvious, but Loki didn't want to consider it, consider that it might be his... his  _true_  physiology that caused it. The thought was sickening. But at the same time, he was still somewhat curious. Did all Jotnar go through this, or only certain ones? And why did  _he_  not feel any effects from it, why only others?

He sat down on the bench, resting his chin on his hand, his elbow on his knee.

The first time it happened Loki experienced something he had never before. He was barely eighty when a very beautiful maiden practically threw herself at him. Although he had been confused at the time at her forcefulness, he had seen Thor jump into bed with many women he barely knew, so why shouldn't he? Unfortunately, when even the  _men_  had started looking at him with extremely suggestive expressions, Loki had quickly run to Thor for aid. The thunderer, the fool, had laughed and only made some comment about Loki's 'womanly aspect' and walked away, but only after saying he should try growing a beard. Loki  _had_  tried, even years after, but he never could grow one.

And the first time one of the noblemen forced himself on Loki...

He shook his head, trying to shake the memory away. Thor didn't laugh then, but perhaps that was only because their parents had been there when they all found out. It was the first time Loki had been both angry and grateful to Heimdall, for if he hadn't told what had happened, would Loki himself have told? After the 'incident', as it soon came to be called, Loki was always locked in a tower at the edge of the city, with only his family visiting him while it lasted; and it usually lasted a fortnight - far too long to be stuck in a boring tower, despite the books and scrolls his mother provided. But more than anything, the most frustrating aspect of his 'condition' was that his magical ability was greatly lessened. He could only perform the simplest of spells, barely even an illusion.  _Not_  the best thing to happen under  _any_ circumstance - it all but made him helpless; as if he didn't  _already_  have problems with being physically weaker than virtually everybody in Asgard.

The SHIELD guard was at the door. Loki jumped back, startled. There was a half-smile on the man's face, eyes blown wide. The god's breath quickened.  _Surely he can't get in here..._

Loki leaned to see what the other guard was doing; strangely, the mortal's eyes were staring blankly ahead, as if he couldn't care less that his companion was  _leering_  at the prisoner and standing so close to the cell door his breath fogged the glass.

The god flinched when the door suddenly slid open. He slid back until his back was against the glass.  _The 'eyes,' the cameras! Surely they can see this? Why won't they come?_

The door slid closed behind the mortal as he walked closer to the god. Loki edged along the seat, then stood up shakily when he reached the end. Staring at his face, Loki belatedly realized it was the  _same_ agent who had spoken to him when he was being escorted.

_This is not good..._  But then he remembered something - something fairly important. How could he have forgotten? He almost laughed at himself. This mortal couldn't harm him! Even without his magic he was several times stronger than the average mortal.  _But..._  for a moment he recalled something. His first 'encounter'... the maiden... At the time Loki had dismissed it, too caught up in his youthful jubilance at bedding a woman in much the same manner as Thor might, without thought to consequences. Certainly she had been  _aggressive_ , but even as he was young, he knew of certain people who favored sexually deviant behavior; finding adventure or whatnot in tying each other up or harming each other in small degrees. He had simply assumed she had been one of those, and had thought nothing of her overpowering him in bed. He hadn't objected; she hadn't hurt him or anything of the sort, and Loki was always one for new experiences.

That thought lingered in his mind until the mortal man moving steadily closer then suddenly lunged at Loki. The god quickly jumped aside, hoping his theory wouldn't hold true. Still, unwilling to test it he walked backward until his back hit the opposite glass wall.  _Where's Thor?_  suddenly jumped in his head.

The guard was again jumping at him, and although Loki was quick, he was too caught up in his own thoughts and worries and theories to force his body to react properly to threats. He jumped a little ways, but was caught around the waist by the man. And to his horror,  _no, it can't be_ , when Loki tried to push him away, in what should have been an effortless move, the mortal barely budged.

_This is not good, this is not good. Where is Thor?!_  Too panicked to struggle very much, the guard pushed Loki to the floor on his stomach. Memories from his ordeal in Asgard at the hands of the nobleman flashed before his eyes and Loki screamed. "No! Get off me!" But the man was strong - inhumanly so, or perhaps  _he_ was only weaker now? How could it happen? His theory had proved correct. His body was no longer his own, it did things without his permission. Even the Asgardian maiden had been stronger than him, but he was too foolish to see it until now. The others... the nobleman had  _already_ been stronger than him, no doubt, perhaps there was no adjustment there.

Loki had no time to contemplate further as he felt a hand sliding down his backside. "Stop!" he screeched. He elbowed the man in the face, but the mortal appeared unphased by the obvious _crack_  of his nose. The god stuggled fiercely now, determined to delay him as long as possible - but for what? Obviously the mortals cared nothing for him, that they would let this happen, even  _watch_.

But where was Thor? Of course. The mortals controlled the cameras, and Thor wasn't Heimdall. Perhaps he couldn't even  _see_  Loki. But surely he would check up on him, given his condition? A thought occurred to him, suddenly.  _But he thinks I can fight them off!_   _He doesn't know!_

Then there was a tugging at his leathers, then suddenly cool air. Then there was warmth, the mortal's very obvious arousal rubbing against his backside.

"No, stop!" Loki choked out, but the man's hand weighed him down, pressing him flat to the floor. "Thor!" he screamed to the open air. "Brother, help me!" Then a hand was cutting off his air, his words. He tried to pry the fingers off his throat but he was too dizzy and the hand too strong.

A stange grunting noise and the sound of boots stomping and clothes moving caught Loki's ear, followed by the hand abruptly releasing, the weight lifting.

Loki coughed fiercely, then looked behind him to find the guard held aloft by his throat, Thor holding him with anger on his face. "How  _dare_  you touch my brother!" boomed the god of thunder. The mortal's feet dangled, slightly kicking, trying to force words out from his moving mouth.

"Thor!" yelled someone from outside the cell, and Loki, as quickly as he could, redressed himself. He coughed again and backed up against the cell's glass wall, watching Thor as the mortal choked. He would have smiled at the display if he could be certain it was the last time something like this might happen. "Put him down, now!" yelled the same person, who now came into view.

"Captain Rogers," said Thor angrily. "This  _mortal_  tried to force himself on my brother; I will extract weregild from him for-"

"I don't really know what that means, but I can guess," said the captain carefully. "But right now, we just need to talk about this." He walked toward Thor slowly, then passed into the room, arms slightly up, as if he were trying to soothe a wild animal.  _Close enough_ , Loki thought. And right now he wished that wild animal would do his brotherly duty and snap the mortal's neck.

But to Loki's dismay Thor released him, the mortal falling to his knees on the floor, coughing. He was suddenly too close for comfort, so Loki cringed back. Feeling panic swell up inside him, Loki half-stumbled around the mortal to Thor's side, grabbing on to his cape and glaring at the two mortals from behind the thunder god.

"Thank you," said the soldier as he helped the fallen mortal stand. Thor said nothing, his stance wide and ready.

Loki clung to Thor until the two mortals left, then sighed when the glass door shut. When the thunderer turned around to speak, Loki, on impulse, punched the older god in the mouth, only to gape in surprise when Thor's head did, in fact, snap to the side.  _How-?_  The hit had barely moved the thunder god, but that was to be expected; Loki had never been a match to Thor in brute strength. That Thor  _had even moved_  was telling, however. Not to mention, Loki should have broken his hand if he was even weaker than a mortal now.

"Loki," Thor rubbed his face. "I am sorry I-"

"No," interrupted Loki quickly, eyes wide and darting about, not looking at Thor,  _thinking_. "No, this is... How-?"

The older god eyed him. "What, brother?"

He shook his head, still running through possible reasons for the differences. "When I hit you..." Loki began, "I still had my strength..." The thoughts worked themselves into words as he circled Thor absentmindedly. "But with  _them_ -" He shook his head. None of it made any sense. How could his strength come and go like that? He cursed himself for not studying his 'condition' sooner, while he was still in Asgard, still had his family to protect him, help him. Family...

Loki eyed Thor from the corner of his eye.  _Damn._  He would have to play the part, then. Let go of his anger and pride and play the part he hated, but that Thor wanted most:  _brother_. But would it work? Thor had changed a great deal since before his banishment,  _would_  he be able to fool him? He internally scoffed. Of course he could. The great thunder god was blinded by sentiment, by supposed  _love_. All Loki had to do was play the part -  _play the part_. Make puppy-eyes at him and display his weakness,  _sentimentality_ , for all the realms to see. A meek bat of lashes here, a small whimper there, hug him lots and call him  _brother_.

He sighed. Did he have any other choice if he wanted to avoid being violated by  _mortals_ , of all things - and how many of them were there on this planet? Billions? The thought of what could happen made him want to vomit - and hopefully in Thor's direction.

"Brother?" Thor asked. And the trickster was suddenly aware that he hadn't said anything for some time.

"Thor?" Loki returned, as though he were confused at Thor's question.

"You said, when you hit me..."

Loki nodded, collecting himself - but not  _too_  much, he had to play the part, after all. "Ah, yes. What I meant was: for whatever reason, I am weaker than the mortals, but still have strength enough to hit you."

Thor was taken aback. "But... that makes no sense. What do you mean? I don't understand," he said in quick succession.

And Loki would love nothing more than to call his big  _brother_  an idiot for not knowing, but that would be hypocritical, at the moment. So he took a big breath and let it out. "Neither do I. But," he lifted his head to look squarely at the thunderer. "I... I couldn't- I couldn't fight him. He was... too strong. I couldn't fight him," and, what else was he to do but hug the big oaf? Might as well go all the way.

Strangely, Thor seemed very surprised when Loki wrapped his arms around his waist, head on his shoulder, since he didn't return the gesture.  _Too much?_  Loki wondered. Of course, he hardly ever showed physical affection, even before everything had gone sour, but-

Finally, the strong arms wrapped around Loki, and with everything in him, the god of mischief and lies told himself he didn't like the gesture, and that he certainly  _wasn't_  relieved that Thor had responded in kind.

Loki always was the best at lying to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably won't be updating this frequently for the rest of the chapters, but I'll try my best to update regularly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just thought I'd remind you guys that not all the characters are in their right mind at the moment; I won't say who is or who isn't, but you get the idea. ;)

The god of thunder was trying his absolute best to explain the situation to the mortals, but he felt he was failing miserably. Not only was the idea of a person going into  _heat_  ridiculous to them, they also didn't seem to care overmuch.

"What is wrong with you guys?" suddenly yelled Steve Rogers over the others' voices; he was the only sensible man in the room, Thor thought. "Did  _any_  of you miss what one of your own  _agents_  just tried to do to the prisoner?" The captain's choice of the word 'prisoner' caught Thor's ear, but he was nonetheless grateful that he was at least on his side.  _Helping_ , somewhat.

There was a tense silence. Then, "So what?" muttered the man of iron, of whom Thor was  _still_  distrustful.

The exasperated look on the captain's face distracted Thor only for a moment. "Man of iron," growled the thunderer, "if you are suggesting what has happened to my brother is of no consequence-"

"Uh," the bearded mortal held up a finger, "I'm not exactly saying  _that_ , but let's face it, SHIELD's recruitment policies aside, the agent  _did_  probably scare the bejeesus outta the kid, we should take advantage."

"Take  _advantage_?" hissed Rogers. "Are you  _hearing_  yourself right now?"

Thor growled. It seemed enough to make Stark glare at him warily, although he didn't back down. Tony spoke, looking to Rogers. "What? I'm not suggesting we  _do_  anything to him, just... just  _threaten_ , that's all." The two blondes glared. "Just saying. Do  _you_  have any bright ideas of how to get the Tesseract out of him? Anyone?" he looked around. "'Cause short of  _torture_ , I don't think we're going-"

Thor found himself suddenly leaning over the man of iron the next moment. " _No one_ ," Thor seethed, "is  _torturing_  my brother. Especially not in his current condition." Tony Stark was leaning back, but seemed mostly unphased by Thor invading his personal space.

"I wasn't saying that," defended Tony. "I was just making a  _point_. We  _aren't_  going to be torturing him,  _so_..." he backed away and moved around the table. "We need a different plan. Just scare him a bit, hey!" He cracked a smile that annoyed Thor. "I'll do it if no one volunteers."

"Is there a problem here?" said a voice from the door. Nick Fury, Thor recognized. He had only met the man recently, but his aspect reminded him of Odin so much he couldn't help but show at least a modicum of respect for the one-eyed mortal. That his subordinates - which sadly didn't include Stark - respected him so much validated Thor's regard for him even more.

"Cyclops!" Tony yelled in acknowledgment, as if his intention was to make certain every mortal on the bridge could hear him. "Didn't see ya there. Can we get some espresso in here or something? A sandwich? A few coupons, anything, I'm  _starving_ -"

"Shut it, Stark," growled the director as he walked toward Thor. "You explain the situation to them?"

"I have... tried," said Thor, looking at the others. "Excluding Captain Rogers, the others appear less than concerned for my brother's well-being."

"That is  _not_  what I said-" Stark.

"Sir, this is a unique situation-" Maria Hill.

"I... didn't really say anything." Bruce Banner. Who, indeed,  _hadn't_  said anything until now.

"Hill," boomed Fury, "what's your assessment?"

"Sir, as I was saying, this is a unique situation. We don't have  _time_  to be delicate." Thor glared at her but she seemed to not notice. "I say we," she glanced at Tony, "take  _advantage_  of the situation, as Stark suggested. If Loki thinks we'll let someone in there with him that could hurt him... Well, he might willingly give up the Tesseract to avoid that."

Fury was nodding; not necessarily in agreement, but clearly he was considering it.

"Director," interjected Thor, "the  _uniqueness_  of this situation does not mean we should take leave of our honor. Or," Thor crossed his arms, "do you and your people  _have_  no honor?"

Rogers sighed.

The look Fury was giving Thor might have made a lesser man cringe. " _Honor_  is something we don't have the luxury of, Thor. And have you forgotten how many people he's killed since he came to  _our_ planet?"

"And does that justify what  _we_  might do? Or do mortals hold that as a prisoner Loki has no right to protection. That he should be regarded as little more than an animal? But what does that make us?"

Fury shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's still our best option." He held up a hand to stop Thor from speaking. "But, our intention won't be to actually  _do_  anything to him, it's just a threat."

Thor couldn't take it anymore, so he left the room. He might have heard Captain Rogers call after him, but he was too far away in both mind and body. He didn't know where he was going, only that he needed some air.

What could he do? They were right about one thing: they needed to get the Tesseract back. Thor just hoped he wouldn't have to betray his brother to do it - and it  _didn't_ matter that Loki had betrayed him first, that's what separated them, and Thor was looking to keep it that way. He wouldn't fall as Loki had, for if he fell, too, who would help his brother back up?

* * *

Thor had left him alone in the cell  _again_! Loki was seething now. Before Thor had left, he had begged him to stay - within reason, at least, he still had his dignity - but to no avail. The  _look_  Loki hadn't used, but only because overuse of something so powerful only diminished its impact; he was saving  _that_  for a more desperate time. But now Loki was berating himself for  _not_  using it. There were no longer any guards near his cell, for which he was extremely grateful, but would that keep them away? Loki had been carted through the many corridors of this vast flying fortress, how many of the mortals might have been affected?

But his brother -  _not brother_ \- had left him. Oh certainly, Loki was refusing to give up their  _vaunted_  Tesseract, but there were bigger problems now!

He stood up from the bench, walked a few steps, then sat back down in a huff. This he repeated several times, unable to keep still. Someone would come, he knew it. Any moment now, someone,  _someone_.

His eyes darted to the entrance, then back in his cell.  _No, no one there. Thor must have threatened them; told them to keep all others away lest he decide Mjolnir needs some practice._  The trickster smirked, then a second later erased the small grin. Nope. Praising his idiot brother's over-protectiveness wasn't in the agenda today... But what  _was_  in the agenda today? Escape? That was no longer an option - without Thor... He shook his head and sat back down, then stood up again, pacing. What other plans did he have? What was it... what was- oh yes, avoid being  _raped_ -

Someone had approached, someone who had managed to sneak up on him.  _Hm._

X - X

"There's not many people who can sneak up on me," said Loki, warily, stepping back a little.

"But you figured I'd come," said Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow.  _Not_ the most pleasant name, especially to be in the same room with for someone in Loki's condition.

"Quite frankly," Loki intoned, eyeing her and wondering if she too had been affected, "I haven't given you a single moment's thought since coming here," he shrugged. "I've had more  _pressing_  matters than wondering about you."

The woman didn't so much as blink; she just walked closer and crossed her arms. "Hm. 'More pressing matters.' I'd say so. Having some issues with the locals?"

It was a crude jest but Loki smiled slyly anyway, "A little," he scrunched up his nose, still smiling.

Despite everything that he knew about her, about the crimes she had committed, about her past sins, he really couldn't care less at the moment. Taunting her and playing a little game of words with the master assassin would have been more than a little fun in other times, but  _right now_ , it wouldn't exactly aid him in avoiding... well,  _people_. He doubted she held any authority in that regard, and the only thing he was interested in was getting his idiot so-called  _brother_  back here. He internally cringed at the thought, that he  _needed_  Thor, of all people, to protect him. So pathetic.

"Tell me," Loki spoke after the long silence, "where is Thor?"  _Damn._  He hadn't meant to blurt it out.  _But_ , he thought a moment later,  _why not?_  There was no way she and SHIELD  _didn't_  already know that's what he wanted, so why play this game when it would only waste time. Of course, he might be able to manipulate her into bringing Thor here, but it was such an obvious want - or  _need_ , in his case - that it would be next to impossible to mince and weave words properly to get the desired outcome without some sort of concession on his part. And what did they want? Oh yes, the  _Tesseract_. But he couldn't very well give it to them, now could he?

Perhaps there was something more? Other things they might wish to-

The glass door slid open. Loki blinked furiously, not quite believing his eyes. The door closed behind the woman, who stopped just shy of the door's threshold.

"What are you doing?" Loki all but blurted out, half-whispered and utterly confused.

* * *

The mortals were trying to stop him, stop him from going to his brother. The moment the video feed had been cut, the thunder god stood to leave, even without first asking  _why_. And why should he? If he could not see the Lady Natasha speak to his brother, then Thor would need to be in their presence.

"Thor!" yelled the director suddenly, as he walked up from where he had been speaking to one of his subordinates across the room.

Three of SHIELD's 'agents' were standing in Thor's way, trying to block his path out of the bridge. "Director," Thor growled, turning around, "why am I not being allowed to observe the interrogation? This Agent Romanoff could hurt my brother-"

"Are you really suggesting a five-foot-three human woman is gonna hurt your god-of-a-brother?" said the director with a hint of amusement.

Thor wasn't fooled. From what his brother had told him, Loki's own strength was being affected by his condition - anything might happen to him while out of his sight. "That is not the issue," said Thor finally. "I told him I would keep him safe, and now he is alone. I do not know your agent, nor do I even know you. Why should I trust anything you say?"

The director sighed then waved the three agents off. Thor watched them go and shifted his weight, eager to return to Loki. "Thor," said Fury, "I know you have no reason to trust me - or Agent Romanoff - but you have to remember, we're all on the same side here. As I stated  _before_ , she's just going to use some scare tactics, that's all. She's not planning to hurt him."

"And as I have told  _you_  before, director, this condition of my brother's may have already affected many of your people. I am the only one who can protect him. If I cannot be in his presence, then I must be able to see him."

Fury nodded, but added, "I understand, Thor. But  _you_  need to understand that this is a delicate situation. We've got agents compromised by an enemy we know nothing about, and not only has this enemy successfully turned several of our agents against us, but he's managed to get ahold of a device that for all intents and purposes was in our custody."

"Yes, however-"

"He is a  _danger_  to our world," continued Fury. "And I get that you want to protect your brother - I even admire that - but I  _don't have time_  for this nonsense about people going into heat or whatever-the-hell you said.  _This_  is going to work; Romanoff is the best at this sort of thing, she'll do her job."

"And," Thor began in a low tone, "what  _is_  her job, if I may ask?"

Fury smirked. "She'll get our answers, don't worry. She doesn't like an audience, though - I've worked with her long enough to give her some space." He patted Thor on the back. "Don't worry about it, have some lunch or something, I'll call you when we need you." And with that he walked away briskly. Clearly the conversation was over.


	4. Chapter 4

This was... not going well. It was now obvious to Loki that the woman - the Black Widow - was not in her right mind, and he allowed himself only one guess as to  _why_.

"Lady Romanoff-" he began, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

" _Agent_ ," she interrupted, looking at him like a predator stalking her prey.

Loki backed up slowly, not exactly feeling like backing himself into a wall at the moment. " _Agent_  Romanoff, I am certain my brother explained... what has been happening to me since you captured me?"

She nodded slowly, almost teasingly. "Oh yeah."

"And," he continued warily, "have you not considered that entering my cell might be evidence of your being influenced by this condition?"

She nodded again, stepping closer with every second. "Of course I have," she said.

Loki's back hit the wall, he winced but kept his eyes fixed on her. "Then, perhaps you might reconsider...  _interrogating_ me until you are - how shall I put it - in your right mind?"

She was only a step away now, eyes half-lidded, pupils blown wide. Her arms were still crossed in front of her, almost boredly, as if she were deciding what to do. But, unfortunately, Loki knew  _exactly_  what she would decide to do. She wouldn't be able to help herself.

"You know," Romanoff finally spoke, words soft, "I'm not a man."

Loki blinked rapidly at the odd and very obvious statement. He furrowed his brow, glad that she was no longer advancing. "I've...noticed... Why do you-"

"Because one way or another, this is happening." She closed the distance between them and pushed him back against the glass with one hand - which, unfortunately, was far too easy for her than it should be. "You can either," she looked around for a moment then leaned into him, "fight me, and give a pathetic display when you inevitably lose; or you can just... let it happen. Enjoy yourself, maybe?"

He swallowed, still staring at her.  _'Enjoy yourself'?_  What did she think was going on? If he were any other man, that would perhaps be easy to do; but Loki wasn't like other men. Aside from that one time in his youth, he never bedded maidens the same way that Thor did - without first having an emotional connection, without having a relationship. And on top of that, there were few women in Asgard that were very interested in him in the first place, despite being a prince, he didn't exactly fit the Asgardian ideal for men. He had learned to live without certain physical pleasures - and more so given his  _condition_ ; he really never felt that having a long-term relationship with anyone would work out well. It would complicate things too much for his liking. No, he had always been satisfied with his books and spells, had all but trained himself to ignore his sexual desires.

He mentally sighed. Perhaps he shouldn't have cut himself off from those desires so completely; it might make  _some_  encounters with these 'influenced' people easier.

"I-" he finally spoke, "I don't think that will be as easy as you... think it will be..." he stuttered.

She was breathing on him, an eager and dangerous look in her eyes. "Makes no difference to me," she muttered, then grabbed a handful of hair at the back of his head and forced a kiss on him.

Caught off-guard, Loki fell into it, her warm lips pressing hard against his. She kept one hand fisted in his hair and the other looped into the front of his armor, holding him in place. Recovering quickly, he attempted to push her away, but, as he suspected, he was all but powerless to do so.  _Weaker even than a mortal woman!_  Loki had never felt so embarrassed and  _pathetic_ in all his life. At least being weaker than an Asgardian was nothing new, and given his newfound knowledge of his heritage perhaps even gave credence to it, but this...

He mumbled in protest, continuing to struggle. When a tongue slipped passed his teeth into his mouth, his immediate reaction was to bite at the intruder.

Suddenly she let go, a growl escaping as a hand went to her mouth. A devilish smile emerged next, bloody teeth greeting him. "That's not very nice,  _lover_. But I like a little fight in a man."

He frowned in horror,  _how wonderful._  He backed away against the cell's wall, futilely scooting away as the woman watched him in a half-crouch, as if ready to pounce any moment. Her smile didn't fade and it was becoming more unnerving as the seconds passed.

Briefly, Loki wondered if he  _should_  give in - at least he would feel less humiliated if it  _appeared_  consensual. And he was certain Thor wouldn't be coming to his rescue this time, this was an official interrogation - or at least it was probably  _meant_  to be. Romanoff's superiors no doubt sent her here to gather information, only they hadn't realized she was being influenced by his condition.  _So they've turned off their spying devices, then. Of course, why not?_

The moment she lunged at him he sidestepped her, spinning, then in the next moment realized she was simply  _teasing_  him, since she gave an open-mouthed grin of excitement.  _Are all mortal women so aggressive?_  he absently wondered.

"There's nowhere to run..." she said, eyes bright with excitement and hunger. She slowly approached him and Loki wondered how successful he might be if he attacked her. Obviously she wasn't meant to be in here with him, which also meant that they were not being watched - if he could somehow subdue her... if not with brute strength then perhaps with simple fighting prowess. But how well would that work? From everything Barton had told him, Romanoff's physical fighting style seemed to match Loki's - speed and agility over strength, thus in the end, he or she with the greater strength would logically win. But perhaps his centuries of training would pay off? She was only a mortal, after all.

Unfortunately, in the next moment, Loki realized that the Widow had been having similar thoughts. Before he could even take the offensive she was on top of him, pinning him to the floor. He tried to wrap a leg around her neck to throw her off, but was startled when her forearm leaned against his throat, cutting off his air completely. He coughed and struggled, but couldn't find the strength to throw her off. With her other hand she grabbed his flailing right wrist and then kissed him on the forehead.

"Play nice," she teased. "I said I like a  _little_  fight, but I don't think I have time to play this game as long as I'd like to." She continued choking him, but before he blacked out she let up just enough to let him breathe, but didn't let him go completely.

Loki coughed and sputtered, feeling ridiculous that he was being bested by such a tiny mortal. What made it worse was that this had been his problem his entire life - the Asgardians' superior strength almost always won over his more agile style of warfare. Thor was an entirely different matter - he always won over everyone else, and he had Mjolnir, besides. Of course, perhaps Loki should have spent more time in the training circle rather than in the library studying his spells, but still... It didn't lessen his annoyance when he inevitable lost to his sparring partner whenever he  _did_ join the warriors in Asgard.

Without sufficient air passing through his lungs, Loki had a hard time focusing; his vision was blurry and his body felt weaker than before. He strained to breathe and tried to blink away his lack of energy, but what he really wanted to do was sleep.

It suddenly dawned on him that the assassin was trying to undo his trousers with her free hand. He frowned and sleepily tried to bat her away.

She chuckled and ignored his feeble attempts. "All this leather is pretty sexy but getting in and out of it must be a pain," she said musingly.

When the arm holding him down let up completely, Loki breathed in desperately, nearly choking on the air. Even so, he felt dizzy and he still couldn't breathe right, coughing furiously. He wondered if she had damaged his throat somehow - it seemed likely.

The next few moments went by so quickly Loki wondered if he had lost consciousness for some of it. He felt cool air and then suddenly her hands were on him, stroking him. He groaned in protest - at her warm hand on him, and at his body for responding.

He tried to sit up and push her away at the same time, but failed at both. He heard a half-moan, half-whine escape his closed lips and shut his eyes in humiliation. He heard her shushing him quietly, almost  _kindly_  and with concern, which just made it worse and somehow made him feel even more violated than for what her hands were doing to him.

Closing his eyes somehow made him feel better so he kept them closed, so tired, too tired to fight back anymore. His breaths were strained, ragged and he thought he might pass out - but he doubted he would be so fortunate.

When suddenly he felt her mounting him, he whined again and tried to slide away with his feet, but two hands on his shoulders stopped him. Then there was just tightness and warmness and he liked it and hated it and he grabbed her shoulders as she continued to hold him down. He didn't know if he was trying to stop her again or if he just needed something to brace himself against- it didn't matter. He held on tightly and couldn't bring himself to look at her, to look at  _anything_ , so he just kept his eyes closed.

The sensations of pleasure running through his body made him hate himself even more than he already did - made him hate his  _body_. Like it had betrayed him and he couldn't do anything to  _stop_  how  _good_  it felt. He didn't want this but his body did and when a pleasured moan escaped him he clamped his mouth shut.  _Shut up! Shut up!_

She was breathing hard and leaning over him, whispering something in his ear, holding his wrists - tighter and tighter. He heard her gasp and moan, so close to his face, he shuddered and turned his head, her breath like venom falling over him.

" _Stop_ ," he heard a voice say, and belatedly realized it was his own voice. Was he speaking to her, or to his own body?

Then suddenly, somewhere in the back of his mind, some place he didn't want to listen to, an idea began to form. An idea that made him angry, angry because he would have to acknowledge something he desperately didn't want to: that this  _wasn't her fault_. It suddenly struck him that she was just as much a victim as he, that she had no more control over her own body than he did of his own.

His own release came so suddenly that his eyes went wide as he gasped and trembled between her chest and the floor. Her face was so close,  _too_  close, fire-burnt hair framing her face as it tickled his skin.

He barely registered whatever else happened afterward, too caught up in his new revelation; something that he utterly _hated_  and didn't want to admit... but he couldn't  _not_. If she had just raped him, he had just done the same in return.

* * *

Thor rushed into the room containing the glass cell, then stopped short of entering it when he caught sight of his brother, curled up with his knees against his chest and his back to the glass wall. His arms were draped over his knees and he hid his face behind them. And when Thor entered the cell carefully, quietly, Loki still did not move. The older god knew that the younger was aware of his presence, he hadn't been able to sneak up on Loki in centuries.

When the Lady Natasha had entered the bridge of the helicarrier, head held high, Thor had thought she'd succeeded, only to hear a moment later that she had gotten nothing from the trickster. The director gave her a scrutinizing look, then asked her if she had gotten  _anything_  out of him. There was something in her eyes at the query, something akin to humor, almost a dark satisfaction lingering behind a mask of calm. Thor knew masks well, his brother of over a millennium a master at painting them.

And he had rushed here, to see what that look might have been, if his suspicions might prove true. But Loki was silent. Still. Not even an angry glare or disdainful sneer directed at him. Thor didn't like it.

"Brother?" Thor intoned.

Slowly,  _very_ slowly, the dark head lifted, ice-white face slowly coming into view, only to stop halfway, eyes still hidden. Then, in a quiet but eerily hard voice: "Don't you  _dare_  call me 'brother.'"

After a moment of staring, Thor noticed a slight shiver running through his brother - no. Not a shiver, or a tremble, but a  _shaking_ , as if from barely contained anger.

"Loki?" Thor tried, instead. "What... what has-"

"If you ask me what's happened, I will  _never_ speak to you again,  _brother_." The face remained half-hidden. Thor was becoming worried, and more so with the way Loki had just spit out the word 'brother', as if it were a vile thing he had to release and never wanted back. "Don't you dare ask me..." he said softer, again hiding his face.

And Thor knew. He knew that it had happened again, happened to Loki because even after everything that had happened since Thor's failed coronation, Loki had never regarded him in such a way, as if he wished death on Thor more than anything... Well, he  _had_  seen this before, hadn't he? The nobleman-  _how could I have left him? He had begged me then... and now..._  Was there any difference?

Thor knelt on the floor in front of his brother but did not touch him as he desperately wanted to. "Loki... I-" But he didn't know what to say. Didn't know how to say, _'I'm sorry for leaving you... again.'_ Didn't know how to ask what had happened, because he _knew_  what had happened, even if not in detail.

His hand lingered near the smaller god's elbow, wanting to touch, to comfort. And then suddenly, staring at the dark-haired head, and then at the slightly trembling shoulders, Thor couldn't help it anymore, he reached out, one hand for each of the thin arms, and pulled his brother to him.

Loki let him at first, limp and easily moved, but upon realizing what was happening, he lashed out angrily, thrashing. "How dare you!" he screamed, trying to loose himself from Thor's arms, pushing hard against the armored chest. "Don't you dare touch me! Let me go!"

Thor didn't know what to do, he didn't know how to make it better, so he just held on, trying to calm his little brother down with reassuring whispers in his ear.

"Stop!" Loki screeched, a few tears escaping his wrathful gaze. "You can't just do whatever you wish with me- you can't just  _hold_  me like I'm your brother! Not anymore... _You don't have the right!_ "

"Loki-"

"No! Shut up, Thor!" Loki balled his fists between them as Thor held tightly, trying to force the other away with sheer force of will, but his face - his  _mask_  - was falling, slowly, slowly. " _No_... I'm  _not_  your brother... and you're not mine..." A few more tears fell. "He- she-  _they_  hurt me..." he furrowed his brow and grit his teeth. "You weren't there...  _never there_." His eyes lifted to Thor, new droplets forming. "Why couldn't you just protect me?"

The god of thunder stared, every word that formed died before it could even live in the air. He swallowed, determined to force something out,  _anything_. He couldn't let this hang between them, stuck in the frozen air and waiting to be thrown against him whenever Loki needed.

But he never got his chance, because something shook the walls and the floor. Alarms sounded loudly, pounding into his head and making him growl in annoyance as they both looked up.

"What is that?" Thor asked, still miffed.

Loki's frown turned to wide-eyed realization. "They're coming..." he whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo, yeah. This was my first time writing female-on-male rape, hope it didn't come out weird or insensitive or something. I'm certainly not the type of person who thinks it's not possible, because people who think so are wrong and need to stop being 12 years old. Lol, sorry to sound huffy, I just _hate_ double standards, on both ends. I also want to clarify that while canon!Loki (that is, comic book and mythology Loki) is fairly promiscuous, the Loki in this is sexually inexperienced and more or less asexual because of his 'condition'.


	5. Chapter 5

The god of thunder had left only moments before, and Loki sat staring after him, mind abuzz with thoughts fighting against each other. He hadn't said anything more to Thor and the big oaf looked reluctant to leave, but eventually did - with promises to return very soon - in order to find out what the commotion was. But Loki knew  _exactly_  what it was, and he wasn't sure if he should be glad that his plans were progressing despite his predicament, or if he should be worried that his new thralls wouldn't be immune to his pheromones.

Loki heard the telltale roar of the green beast and he realized that Thor wasn't likely to return anytime soon, given that out of everyone on the ship, his idiot brother was the only one even remotely a match for the creature.

 _Damn_. Despite his anger at the blonde oaf, he still  _needed_  him. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so harsh, it wasn't as if it was the first time he had been violated, and, unfortunately, it probably wouldn't be the last - and more so if he remained on this pathetic excuse for a planet. And there were  _so many_  of them, there would be no avoiding the mortals.

No, he would have to use the Tesseract, tweak it at the last moment to instead send  _him_  elsewhere, so he could wait out his 'heat' until-  _No, no, no..._  He  _couldn't_. He knew he couldn't because then  _he_  would come after him, if he... failed... The Other's threat wasn't hollow and Loki knew it.  _He_  would do far worse to Loki than anything the mortals might do. Being forced - humiliating as it was - to do  _things_  with the humans was nothing next to what his punishment for failure would no doubt be. So no. He couldn't use the cube for anything other than what he had originally intended.

 _Damn_.

X - X

When one of Loki's thralls, a man whose name he couldn't recall, opened his cell's door, the god still hadn't decided if he should risk going with him. It might take a few minutes for him to be influenced, and even if  _this_  particular minion wasn't affected, any of the others might be, since apparently only  _some_  mortals were influenced by it.  _Wonderful_ , he thought, sardonically.

"Sir?" said the man as he stood at the door's threshold. "We should move, the Hulk is distracting the others and Barton's taking care of-"

"Yes, of course," interrupted the god, still not particularly concerned with how well his plans were being carried out, at least at the moment. He walked, cautiously, toward his thrall. "Tell me," Loki began, "do you... feel any different?"

The man frowned. "Sir? I... think we should move. SHIELD might recover before-"

Loki's loud sigh cut him off.  _Well, he doesn't_ seem _to be affected... thus far..._  "Very well," he intoned, but kept a wary eye on the man as he indicated for Loki to pass him.  _Not likely,_  thought Loki. And when Loki neared him, the thrall, from behind his back, produced Loki's scepter.

"Oh," said Loki, half-surprised and feeling foolish that his numerous problems made him forget his formidable weapon. He stared at it, forehead creased in slight apprehension. For some reason, he didn't exactly  _like_  the weapon. Still...  _Well_ , he thought,  _perhaps I could keep some of these more aggressive mortals at bay with this._  And as if sensing the god's reluctance about turning his back to him, the mortal walked a few steps away, as if to escort his master to safety.

Loki nodded.  _Right, then._  He walked out of his cell and approached his minion-

Suddenly, Loki heard the extremely distinctive sound of his not-brother's boots fast approaching. He quickly conjured a double of himself - although with some effort, given how his powers were severely diminished - near his cell's still-open entrance, a mischievous smirk on his face at the thought of trapping the fool inside the cell.

" _No!_ " Thor yelled as he lunged at Loki's illusion, and, predictably, was caught inside when Loki closed the door with the control panel.

"Are you ever  _not_  going to fall for that?"

The thunderer shot to his feet, confused and annoyed at once. "Loki, what are you doing?" he growled.

Loki  _tisked_ , suddenly feeling extreme glee at the thought of the great golden prince trapped in a cell he couldn't escape. And when Thor cracked Mjolnir into the side of the glass, the entire thing shook and groaned, threatening the occupant with a very possibly unpleasant fall.

Something inside Loki, something  _very deep_ , cringed at the thought, and he briefly stiffened, only to school his features a moment later into mocking surprise. He walked over to the control panel, eyeing Thor.

"The humans think us immortal," he said slyly. "Shall we test that?" It was a tease and Loki knew it. Although he wanted nothing more than to drop the arrogant fool through the air like he deserved, he still needed him. He was, unfortunately, an  _asset_  to the trickster god, at least as long as his heat lasted. Even so, he was  _very_ tempted to push the button, as recompense for his earlier blunder - he knew it wouldn't kill Thor, even such a great fall. At most it would hurt him greatly and the mere thought made Loki simultaneously sinisterly gleeful and paralyzingly concerned.

Out of the corner of his eye Loki caught sight of Hawkeye approaching.  _What is he doing here?_

"Sir," Barton breathed as he rushed toward him.

"Barton," Loki began, slightly upset, "what are you doing here? You were supposed to take out the command center-"

"Already done, sir," he said quickly, eyeing Loki.

But before the god could consider that look, a SHIELD guard was upon them, angrily shouting and wrestling with his two thralls. The guard - who Loki now recognized as the one who had attacked him earlier - was quickly subdued by Barton and pinned to the ground. The man appeared almost feral, eyes red and wide, struggling beneath the archer's knee pinning him to the ground.

The trickster felt a wide smile cross his face. He heard Thor yell, "Loki, no!" but he ignored him.

"Kill him," said Loki, voice like ice and unwavering. Without a second thought Barton sliced the guard's neck and the god watched as the blood pooled beneath the slumped body.

"Why?" said Thor with a sad tone. "You know it was not his fault-"

Loki's eyes went wide and he turned to the thunderer. "' _Not his fault'?_  You who nearly strangled him to death when he tried to force himself on me- No, no. You haven't the  _right_ -"

"I was wrong as well, I shouldn't have..." Thor lowered his head. "He was not at fault any more than you are for..." he trailed off but looked up.

"All of you, step back," came a new voice. A man with a  _very_  large weapon stood a few feet away, apparently having knocked out his other thrall while they were all distracted by Thor. But in the blink of an eye Barton was upon him, not giving the man in the dark suit any time to retaliate with his weapon.

"Barton!" Loki yelled in worry, but didn't wish to intervene with the knowledge that he might be weak against this new mortal.

They grappled near the control panel, their weapons waving about, and before Loki could truly consider his actions, he stepped up behind the agent and stabbed him through the back with the point of the scepter. He heard Thor scream in protest, but Loki was too busy watching the man slide to the floor.

"Loki, what have you done?!" screamed Thor. But he didn't hear him, he just stared.  _Instinct_ , Loki told himself. He was just trying to protect his thrall, his servant. And maybe... himself. What if the man had been one of  _them_ , one of the one's that might hurt him? How could he know? But the truth was, he didn't know  _why_  he had just killed him when he could have easily knocked him out.

"Brother..." Thor sighed in anguish. "You did not have to- why did you-"

Suddenly anger flared up in Loki; anger at being called  _brother_  when the golden prince  _had no right_  to call him that. Hadn't he already said so? Screamed it at him. Panic and confusion and absolute boiling _rage_  filled Loki to the brim and before he could even form thoughts his hand had already pushed the button - and before his very eyes his brother disappeared, the hole in the ship devouring the glass cage like the maw of a nightmare's beast.

"No..." escaped the trickster's mouth as he stared at where Thor had just been. Nothing but empty space now.

Only a moment passed but it seemed so much longer.

"Sir," said Barton professionally, "we need to leave. The extraction point is on the hangar level, we need to go  _now_."

Loki blinked rapidly but continued staring blankly, then looked to the mortal, nodding absently. "Very well..."

X - X

The ride back to their hidden base was quiet, almost eerily so. Loki stared at nothing for the entire trip, but when they landed, he drew himself up and breathed in and out through his nose. It was nothing, he told himself. Not only did he  _not care_  about what had happened to his once-brother, but Thor wouldn't have died from the impact anyway, so there was no reason to think on it further.

Satisfied with his new dismissal of what had occurred, the trickster god walked through his base, oddly numb, and avoided his thralls as they prepared to leave for Stark Tower. They had a few hours yet before they would make it there, and Selvig and the Tesseract were already on their way.

Remembering himself and his  _problems_  Loki avoided any of the mercenaries who weren't under the scepter's control, and instead made his way to his 'room' - temporary as it was - to rest while everyone prepared to leave. On the way he found Agent Barton and pulled him aside.

"Barton," Loki began, "I need you to stay outside my door and let no one in unless it's urgent."  _Urgent._  Well that wouldn't do, to  _them_  getting to Loki and forcing themselves on him might seem  _urgent._  "On second thought, let no one in. You can handle any other problems that might arise."

The agent nodded and followed him to the room at the back, one of the few with a door.

Loki walked in and heard the door close behind him as he stopped before the bed. Rest... Strangely, the thought was inordinately tantalizing. In fact, Loki couldn't even  _remember_  the last time he had slept. Was it before the Chitauri? Before falling from the bridge-

The sense of someone standing behind him jolted the trickster from his thoughts as he whipped around. "Barton?"

The agent stared at him, hands neatly folded in front of him. "Sir?"

Loki looked around, brows furrowed. "What are you doing in here? I told you to wait outside-"

"Yes, sir," said the agent coolly. "And no, sir, I can't do that."

The god narrowed his eyes. "And why is  _that_?"

The archer stared for a moment, unnatural blue eyes unwavering. "I think you know why, sir. You need me," came the eerily plain answer.

Loki clenched his fists when they began to shake.  _No... no not him, too - it can't be!_  "Agent Barton," Loki tried to keep his voice calm, "you will leave this room,  _now_." The slight tremble in his voice couldn't be masked despite his efforts.

"No can do, sir," said the agent as he slowly walked forward. The god briefly noted that he didn't carry any weapons - probably to keep Loki from using them against him.

Loki steeled himself but backed away slowly, nonetheless. "You will heed my commands, mortal.  _Leave my presence._ " And suddenly Loki remembered that he had left the scepter out in the main room - _fool!_ He shouldn't have ever let go of the thing... but he simply didn't  _like it_. He still had no idea why.

"Sorry, sir," said the mortal, "but you need my help. I can feel it."

Loki shook his head and felt the backs of his knees hit the bed. He flinched and breathed hard. "No, I-" he started, looking around for a weapon,  _anything!_  "I assure you," his voice was shaking now. "I- I don't require your help... please just leave."

"No, sir," he said again, voice level, professional, inching closer.

 _'Sir'?_  The absurdity of his so-called thrall naming him his master might have been humorous if it had been anyone else in Loki's place. It was ludicrous. Why wouldn't he heed his commands? Apparently the effect Loki's body had on others still filtered through the scepter's power.

Loki trembled and stumbled backward onto the bed when Barton took a quick step forward. And suddenly the idea of an actual _bed_  beneath him made panic run through the trickster, memories of the assault by the nobleman in his youth flooding back, flashing before his eyes.

"No," sobbed Loki suddenly, eyes filling with tears, memories attacking him as any flesh and blood person might. "Don't... please..." He scooted back, trying to avoid the approaching man. His back hit the wall and he curled into himself, shaking fiercely.  _My brother will kill you! What would the other nobles say?_

"Shh, shh," said the archer, knees now on the bed, coming closer.

 _Too close! Go away!_  Loki shook his head as he felt tears falling down his face. "I don't want this," he cried, desperate. "Please don't- please don't do this. I don't want it..." And a hand was stroking his face, gently, affectionately.

"I'm going to help you," whispered the mortal into his ear, leaning over him, touching him. "Don't be afraid, you need this..."

The god shook his head in protest, "No... I don't-  _please_ -"

But he was already being maneuvered, manhandled away from the wall, quietly and gently pulled down until he was flat on his back. He felt his numerous leathers being removed and the calm and almost reverent way the other handled him. Loki wanted to curse him, spit in his face and fight him with whatever meager strength he could muster, but his body refused. He knew it was futile. He couldn't fight the first two mortals... or the nobleman- why would this be any different? And now... there was  _no_  chance of anyone helping him.

Loki sobbed loudly and didn't care that he did when he felt the mortal position himself between his legs. He wanted to close his legs, to fight back -  _somehow_  - but he couldn't muster the will to do even that. Here he was about to be violated  _again_  and he couldn't even find it in himself to fight back.

There was something cold lubricating his entrance and he flinched at the sudden intrusion a moment later.

"It's okay, sir, just relax, I'll take care of you."

Loki wanted to scream,  _'Stop calling me sir!'_  but all that escaped was a whimper as he felt himself being stretched. And when next he felt the tip of the agent's manhood ready to enter him, he cried in protest, wishing Barton would at least render him unconscious before beginning.

"Are you ready?" asked the mortal, and in any other situation Loki would have laughed.  _Why are you asking me? Would you stop if I said 'no'?_

And in a way Loki did say no, when he shook his head fiercely at the hard flesh entering his body slowly. He choked out a whimper at the sensation, remembering the pain when he had first been taken by the man in Asgard. " _Don't_ -" he heard himself whisper, but it was too late, Barton was all the way in and  _it hurt._  He tried to relax around it but he couldn't force his body to uncoil at the intruder inside.

He felt sobs catching in his throat as the agent pulled out and pushed back in and Loki grabbed the sheets beneath him with white knuckles. Loki's body was still rigid on the third thrust and the pain hadn't lessened.

"Just  _relax_ , sir, it'll hurt more if you fight it-"

"No," Loki whimpered to the ceiling, "please- I can't, just  _stop_ -"

But Barton continued his assault, pulling in and out in an apparent effort to  _force_  his master to relax against his hard member.

After a while the archer found a steady rhythm, and Loki  _did_  somewhat relax, although he hated himself for it. If he didn't relax, at least  _that_  could be interpreted as 'fighting back'. Even that small thing, despite the pain it caused, was something that he wished he could hold on to. But he was already tired before entering into this nightmare, and he couldn't fight against the friction inside him, warm and horrible and disgusting and he wanted to vomit.

He continued crying, tears wetting his hair and the sheets beneath, and Barton continued in what the agent apparently saw as the  _gentlest_  way to rape someone.

It went on for so long and Loki was beginning to feel sore as the lubricant began to run out, but the archer didn't seem to notice. He was now pounding more steadily into Loki and he felt a new pain shooting through him.

" _Ah!_ " the trickster cried. "Please... stop! It hurts,  _please stop_!" But the mortal appeared lost in his ecstasy, sweat dripping on the god beneath him as he roughly rutted into him, faster and faster. And when Loki tried to fight back physically for the first time, Barton easily grabbed the god's wrists and held them above his head, continuing his assault all the while. Loki gritted his teeth and felt fresh tears fall into his ears.

And then finally, as the archer's thrusts became erratic, he held firmly and trembled against Loki's legs, releasing inside the next moment. The god whimpered at the burn and tried to get away again, but his wrists felt like they would break any moment, so he stopped and resigned himself to the disgusting warmth filling inside, dripping down onto the sheets.

The man collapsed onto the god, breathing hard and resting against his chest. "See, sir?" said the mortal, breaths ragged. "I told you I would help."

Loki did nothing but continue to cry, hoping it was all over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gyaah. I feel so bad for Loki, heh. When I write this stuff, I'm apparently in a crazy trance or something because when I have to re-read it to look for mistakes I'm all 'Ahh! Did I actually write this?' Yeah. There's a lot of cringing involved (I'm constantly doing that with Hollow Skies). Can you have WTF moments about your own writing? Lol...


	6. Chapter 6

Steve Rogers didn't know what to think about the whole messed up situation. Thor was gone, and Banner and Barton - who had left along with Loki. He was worried about _everybody_ , even Loki, who he knew was having some... _issues_ with his body at the moment. As odd as it was, he was secretly glad the man- alien- whatever he was, was out of their reach and back with his... What _were_ they to him? Servants? Allies? Friends? Slaves? Steve didn't know, but given what he had seen in the security footage, they were under his command; and oddly enough, given that it was against their will, it probably meant they couldn't attack him like that agent had tried to, like Romanoff had-

He shook his head and watched Tony across the conference table of the Helicarrier's bridge. He still wasn't sure what to think about what Romanoff had done. The idea of a woman doing _that_. It was... strange. The agent herself was currently being debriefed by specialists, and he wondered about whether or not she remembered what she had done.

Stark, for his part, didn't seem the least bit concerned about what Romanoff had apparently done to the trickster. He had shrugged and even smirked, although an odd look had entered his eyes, and Rogers hadn't known quite what to make of it. It was almost... hostile. But hostile toward whom?

And no matter what had happened, no matter what she had done, whatever Stark now thought, wherever Thor and Banner were - Coulson was _dead_. It wasn't in Steve to hold grudges or want revenge, or at least he tried his best to not hold to them, but he did want _justice_. The bloodied cards on the table demanded it.

"Well, it's an old-fashioned notion," said Fury in a quiet and contemplative voice.

Stark abruptly stood up and left, leaving the two alone, even with dozens of people only a few feet away.

* * *

When Loki awoke he was alone. Somehow Barton had redressed him and cleaned him while he was unconscious, and the god shivered at the memory of the archer's touch. He was laid out on the bed more properly, a pillow under his head.

"Sir," said a voice near the darkened door. Loki immediately flinched back, sitting up - but flinched again at the pain the movement caused. But it wasn't Barton, only another agent of SHIELD he had 'recruited' to his side with the scepter. And speaking of the scepter, the mortal was holding it aloft, offering it to the god.

Loki eyed him - and it - warily. _And what are_ you _doing here?_ Would he attack Loki, too?

The agent's blank blue eyes stared at the god, unblinking but not hungry like Barton's or Romanoff's had been.

"Sir?" asked the agent after Loki hadn't moved.

After several more moments, Loki deemed the man harmless - or at least he hoped so - and slowly, painstakingly, made his way to him. Before he reached him Loki stumbled, the pain in his body suddenly surging through him. Immediately the mortal caught the god's arm, helping him to stand. But Loki jerked away in fear and panic, not wanting to be touched by anyone - least of all a mortal - at the moment.

"Don't touch me," Loki growled, just to make certain he would keep his distance. Fortunately, what little help the thrall had given was enough that Loki found his balance a little more, although he still swayed.

"Yes, sir," said the agent blankly, still holding the scepter in offering.

Loki had the sudden urge to kill the mortal in front of him, if for no other reason than there might simply be a delayed reaction to what had influenced Barton. _Might he attack me, next?_ But the truth was, Loki wanted to lash out, to hurt someone in return for his own hurts.

But before he could act another blue-eyed thrall appeared behind the first. "Sir, Doctor Selvig is at the Tower, Barton reports no hostile activity in the vicinity. We should leave." Then he sees it - the slightly altered _look_ that the new agent gives him. There was hunger, _wanting_ behind those bright blues...

"Agent," said Loki quickly to the first man, who still held his scepter. "Kill him, _now_."

The first agent didn't even hesitate, and the second barely flinched when the knife dug into his heart. Without thinking Loki grabbed the scepter, then walked over the body without even a second look.

"Follow me," he said to the first mortal, then walked to join the others at the second quinjet they had, and ordered the agent to kill any other minions that looked at him funny.

* * *

The theory was sound, that Loki would use Stark's tower to stage his take-over of Earth. While it amused Steve that Stark had arrived at his conclusion by comparing Loki to himself, he was also worried about the man. Tony had clearly not been himself during their first encounter with Loki, and he wasn't certain he wouldn't suddenly have a lapse in judgement somewhere along the way. Even so, they needed him. He could only hope nothing would trigger... whatever had happened before.

Agent Romanoff had been cleared, despite Fury's suspicions. Thor had told them - _insisted_ \- that Loki had been assaulted by her, but it was obvious that no one was keen on believing a guy known as the _god of lies_. There was no proof; only Loki's word. And Natasha had insisted that he was lying - but who should they trust? An assassin and agent with a _spy_ organization, or a man with a nickname like _liesmith_?

Both Romanoff and Rogers were flying in a quinjet toward New York City, as Tony flew in his slightly-trashed Iron Man suit and went ahead of them.

* * *

The god of mischief couldn't _believe_ he was still following order- his _plans_ \- his _own_ plans, of course - after what had happened. But everything in him compelled him to soldier on, to grit his teeth and ignore the pain in his body, because it was still better than enduring whatever _he_ might do to Loki if he failed. And there was no way he was going to fail. And fortunately, his body would heal soon enough.

Selvig, to Loki's infinite relief, remained loyal and unaffected by his _condition_. He still needed him and it would be a shame to have to kill him - or order anyone else to.

The one agent that Loki knew to be unaffected remained by his side, although he now realized that Selvig had no one protecting him. _Damn_ , Loki thought. The scientist was still setting up the portal machine, and he couldn't afford to leave Selvig unprotected.

He ran a hand through his hair. He also couldn't leave _himself_ unprotected, especially since he knew Barton was somewhere, nearby.

"Doctor?" Loki asked.

"Hm?" responded the elderly mortal as he continued tinkering with the machine.

"Where is Agent Barton?"

Selvig paused and looked at Loki for a moment, thinking. "On one the higher floors, I believe. You know how he likes to be high up," smirked the scientist.

Loki nodded, looking away. _Then he is nearby._ An idea occurred to him and he turned to the agent beside him. "Agent," he began, "tell Barton that I order him to leave, to-" he thought for a moment, "to leave this building for another." Loki pointed at a building nearby. "Tell him to go there, he can better protect us here if he's not _in_ the same building." He knew Barton might not listen, but as the agent relayed the order, and said something about 'the Chrysler Building', there was a pause, then: "Sir, Agent Barton acknowledges."

Loki breathed a sigh of relief. "Very good," he allowed a small smile. "Come with me, we need not linger here." But then he remembered he needed Selvig protected, as well. "Ah... well actually, remain here with Doctor Selvig. Ensure he sets up the device without hindrance."

The agent nodded and took up a guard stance.

Loki made his way down to the top floor, eyeing the furniture and bar. Not an unpleasant place to watch his army come through, to begin his kingdom- And suddenly the thought struck him that he _wouldn't_ be able to rule here; not as long as he continued with this ridiculous condition of his! He would _have_ to find a way to suppress these... pheromones. If given enough time, perhaps he could use his magic? Or some combination of alchemical reagents? He sighed. Not likely. It would take too long, either way.

The god made his way to the window, looking out upon the vastness of the city. It was all hard-edges and straight lines, so different from the golden softness of Asgard, power reflected in every surface and written plainly on the faces of its citizens. Truly a realm for gods. But this city... it was everything that reminded Loki of the mortals. Crude and simplistic. Although... there was a certain intriguing quality about it, to know that in such a short time human ingenuity had reached such heights as to allow them to, quite literally, reach for the sky.

Lost in his thoughts, the god barely noticed a shadow falling over him from the outside. The next moment a loud crash and a sudden bright light filled his vision, followed by pain erupting in his chest. He was thrown back several feet, sliding across the floor, landing on his back amongst pieces of skittering glass.

Loki winced and gritted his teeth, breathing heavily and trying to move - which he could barely manage with the pain spreading across his body.

"Look alive, Rudolph," said an odd sounding voice from somewhere outside. Loki glanced down and saw the man of iron land on a platform and walk toward him, the armor slowly being taken apart by machines and disappearing into the building. The god gasped out a strained breath and blinked his eyes, realizing that the human had hit him with his suit's weapons; he didn't remember it hurting quite so much the last time.

Stark walked closer, then quickened his pace when he saw Loki reaching for his scepter, which had fallen a little more than arm's-reach away.

"Oh, no, no, no," said the mortal, quickly grabbing the weapon. "No glow stick of destiny for you."

Loki berated himself for leaving his thrall with Selvig, but realized that it wouldn't have mattered. The Iron Man would have probably killed him had he hit the mortal with the same weapon.

As Stark casually walked over to his bar and began preparing what Loki assumed was a drink, the god tried his best to sit up. Apparently his ability to heal had been somewhat lessened along with his magic, or he would have already healed from his earlier injuries - and this new injury was proving the most painful.

"Want a drink?" asked the mortal, as though nothing were amiss, as though Loki were simply paying a dear friend a visit in his lofty tower.

Loki managed to sit up, and a moment later made it to his knees, pieces of glass falling to the floor. But truly, he wondered what the point was. Without his scepter he was all but powerless, and conjuring illusions wouldn't fool the human. He ignored Stark, trying to think, to _think_. What could he do? He already knew that Stark had been affected, although he hadn't had the chance to act on his... impulses. Until now. The god shuddered and fell to his hands, half out of pain and half out of despair at his hopeless situation.

 _Why did I have to push that button?! Damn you, Thor!_ But he didn't blame Thor, not really - he blamed _himself_. And why shouldn't he? How could he be so stupid? What if Thor hadn't made it out of the glass cell... What if he-? No, no. Such a simple thing couldn't kill Thor, no. Never.

The human was standing nearby, legs in Loki's view. "You know what," said the mortal. "I'm kinda thinking I should be out there," he pointed with a finger to the windows. "But," he tilted his head, "I really don't _want to be_. At least not right now. Crazy thing, isn't it?"

Loki lowered his head, feeling the pieces of glass beneath his open palms on the floor. The human walked a little ways, circling the god, then stopped somewhere to his right. Then there was a hand on the back of his neck, determined but not hurting. The trickster reflexively reached out with his arm, and twisted it around the human's, then used his other arm to strike at his target's throat. Stark blocked it at the last moment with his free arm, but was unprepared for the kick to his stomach, then at the back of his knee as he fell forward to the floor. Not wasting time, Loki kneed him in the head and as the mortal was distracted, he ran for where he was sure Stark had left the scepter. Unfortunately, despite Loki's technique being sound, Stark's strength advantage only subdued him momentarily, and he grabbed for the trickster's legs, tripping him.

"No!" Loki screamed and kicked the mortal in the face, and managed to stumble forward and around the bar, then to his relief found the scepter waiting there.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled the mortal from behind him, as he reached for the weapon and wrestled with the god for it. Loki was caught off-guard by the other's determined wrenching of the weapon away that he flew over the bar and crashed onto the floor.

Even in pain and his vision blurring, Loki was determined. _No! No, not again!_ He scrambled away, toward the window as the mortal approached. He didn't know where he could go, how he could escape. If his magic was still intact, and if his strength wasn't... whatever it was, he might have considered simply falling off the building. It would have hurt, of course, and no doubt it would have rendered him unconscious for quite some time, but it would at least have been an _option._

Before he could turn around and consider other avenues of escape, Stark came up behind him and grabbed him in a headlock. Loki struggled and gasped, trying to free himself. _No, please!_ Had he ever been close to escaping? While in the mortal's tower, in his territory, with nothing but his own dwindled strength to aid him?

"Not getting away this time, princess," breathed Stark into Loki's ear, breath warm. "That wasn't very nice."

" _Nice?!_ " spat Loki, suppressing the urge to cough. "Considering- considering what... what _you're_ trying to do to- to me?"

" _To_ you? We're just having a little fun, aren't we?" mocked the mortal.

"No," Loki choked out, and reached up with a hand, "we're... _not..._ " He tried to jab his thumb into Stark's eye, but the mortal jerked and tightened his hold around Loki's neck.

"Nu-uh," he said and pushed Loki to the floor and all but sat on his back. The position was painful since Loki was forced to arch his back if he didn't want to choke. The pain in his chest also increased and he clenched his teeth.

A hand was trying to quickly undo his trousers, he realized, so he bucked up if only to delay the inevitable.

"Hey, hey, control yourself, bronco." But of course Loki continued to struggle, although it was extremely difficult given his dwindling air supply. In fact, he barely even felt the air on him when Stark finally managed to work out his complicated clothing. "Damn," said the human, "how do you even _get_ _into_ this outfit?" A smirk. "Looks great on you, though."

Was the mortal _really_ trying to _flirt_ with him seconds away from violating him?

"Woah," said Stark, "what the fuck? Did someone already take a ride?" Then suddenly, in an angry voice near Loki's head. "Who was it? Was it Rogers? I'll fucking kill him..."

The god didn't answer, because there was no reason to answer.

"No," said someone behind the two. "It was _me_."

And suddenly Stark let him go, as the god fell against the cold floor and coughed fiercely.

"What the fuck, Barton!" said Stark, still nearby, standing up.

"What the fuck yourself, Stark. He doesn't belong to you - _we_ should belong to _him_." And oh the irony of _that_ statement. The god almost chuckled but was too busy trying to reorient himself, re-fasten his clothing and _get away_ from the mortals. _Somehow_... He crawled a little away and turned around, as Stark and the archer faced off.

Stark snorted. "Right. Because _that's_ happening."

Then suddenly Barton was on the other as they struggled and wrestled each other to the floor. Loki looked around, tried to find some way to escape. He wasn't too hurt yet that he couldn't walk, but the lack of oxygen wasn't helping any, making him dizzy when he tried to stand. It didn't matter who won - they _both_ had the same intentions, at least where Loki was concerned.

The two mortals grunted and fought, and the god stumbled around them, trying his best to avoid their melee. And when the noises died down, he saw Barton with his hands around Stark's throat, both standing.

"What do you have to say _now_ , _Stark_?" said the archer, forcing the other to walk backwards as they neared the window. "Nothing? I thought so." And without prompt he threw Tony Stark through the open window, then briskly walked away, obviously not caring to watch the man fall. Something loud crashed through the room and out the window, leaving the two alone. Barton barely seemed to notice whatever it was. He looked around and found Loki frozen to the spot.

 _Will I never be rid of these mortals?!_ Loki's mind screamed. He collapsed to his knees resignedly, head bowed, breath harsh in his chest.

Barton stepped forward. "Sir, you-"

"Not as smart as you think you are, bird brain," said the mechanized voice of the Iron Man through the window he had just been thrown through. Barton whipped around and Loki lifted his head. The metal suit was flying in place, weapons raised. A split second before he fired, Barton jumped to the side, then rolled out of the way. When Stark fired again, he hit his bar and the archer went flying, falling against a wall, unconscious before he hit the floor.

A flash of light lit the sky and Stark, still hovering, looked up. "Damn," he said, then, to Loki's extreme relief, flew off toward the sky.

The god, very slowly, stood up, then stumbled a few steps, braced his hands on the floor, then tried to stand again - only to fall face-forward and collapse onto the floor, breathing hard and barely registering that his chest burned and everything ached, as he lost consciousness on the floor.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question for you guys at the end!

Thor flew as fast as he could toward the city. An ominous blue line of light from a tall building kept a portal open, as various creatures - the Chitauri - flew out of the gaping hole.

He flew across the water, heading straight for the building with the mortal's - Stark's - name plastered across the top. Truly that mortal cherished his own name far too much. As he got closer he noticed several small explosions light up the sky below the open portal.

As Thor neared, although he was eager to join the battle, his thoughts continually drifted to his brother, to what had happened on the flying fortress. Loki had tried... he had tried to  _kill him_.

After Thor had crashed onto the Earth after breaking out of the glass cage, he had felt anger at his brother, but only a moment later... Well, Loki had  _begged_  him to stay, to not leave him alone; and Thor had given hollow reassurances, uncaring of his brother's words, determined to prove the mortals' worth by saying he would be safe. But he had been wrong, and Loki had paid the price. And what might have happened after Loki dropped him? What of  _that_? Should he simply forgive Loki for trying to kill him with the glass cage, that it was a justified retaliation for leaving him alone? The trickster had seemed so angry, but surely his little brother knew he wouldn't have abandoned him  _had he known_. This... condition of Loki's - even Loki himself barely understood it, did he expect Thor to?

* * *

The ground shook. The god of mischief's eyes felt heavy, too heavy to lift for several minutes. He lay there, breathing, occasionally coughing, then slowly, carefully, he looked around, having forgotten where he was or why he was here.

For some reason his first thought was that the floor shook because his idiot brother was fighting in the next room, and that Loki should yell at him to stop swinging that ridiculous hammer when he-

_Barton._

Loki's eyes went wide as he stared at the unmoving form of the mortal nearby, near what used to be the man of iron's bar. The god lay stock still, not daring to move for fear of waking the archer. He felt not unlike an animal, fearful and paralyzed, hoping the predator wouldn't see him if he remained still. Which, of course, was ludicrous.

He dragged his arms and legs, forcing them to move, to lift him up and walk before the mortal  _did_  wake. His body still hurt and his breathing was ragged, but he used the floor and walls for support as he trudged around the room, then moved toward the Midgardian transporting device, whose metal doors stood silently, waiting.

He momentarily looked around, hoping to spot his scepter, but immediately realized, with so much debris, it might take some time to find. If he had his magic... Well, if he had his magic he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

Loki leaned with an arm on the doors, immediately pushing the buttons near the device, but nothing happened.

 _"I am sorry, but your presence is not authorized in this area,"_  said a cool voice from the ceiling.

The god grit his teeth and leaned on the wall. "Then let me out of this area! I am trying to leave!" He waited, glaring at the ceiling, but nothing happened. Where had that voice been when he had used the device earlier? _Trapped..._  He suddenly realized he might not be able get out soon enough... perhaps... perhaps he should kill Barton before he-

The sound of tiny pieces of glass falling and a groan made Loki's heart clench in his chest.  _No... not yet!_  His eyes darted about, not daring to look in the direction of the - no doubt awakening - mortal.

 _The stairs!_  There had to be stairs, right? Loki took a step, tripped on a piece of wood, then angrily and in a half-panic stumbled around the room, trying to find a way out -  _any_  way out!

When he finally spotted a door, near the back, the god ran as best he could for it, only to be tackled from behind and slammed chest-first into the wall next to the potential exit. He was wrestled to the floor and his arms roughly, and quite painfully, wrenched behind him, a knee also dug into his back, holding him in place.

"Where do you think  _you're_  going?!" taunted the mortal, voice a growl. Barton's hands gripped Loki's wrists tighter, and the god felt his bones screaming at the pressure. A quick glance at the archer surprised Loki;  _has he somehow released himself from the power of the scepter?_  His eyes were no longer the crystal blue of the Tesseract. How could it have happened? But a moment later he realized it didn't really matter - now the man would be out for vengeance.

The pain in his body increasing with every second, Loki's mind scrambled for something to say, to convince the mortal that he had had no choice, or that the archer had already repaid any injury in kind, or that he would help with the Chitauri if he would just  _let him go_. But the words wouldn't come, they felt meaningless and, Loki knew, might simply serve to anger the man more than anything. There was no lie,  _nothing_  to abate the mortal's anger. Loki had taken his will, forced him to kill others,  _his own people_ , his  _friends_ , and no amount of apologies, no matter how genuine, would stop him.

As if something had suddenly angered him, Barton let go suddenly and jerked Loki around on his back, then sat on him, straddling his abdomen. Without a moment's notice, the human backhanded Loki, then immediately punched him with the same hand, then hit him again, and again, and again.

Loki shut his eyes, not wanting to see the anger on his attacker's face. Neither mortal nor god said anything as Loki's face was struck again and again, not a single moment's rest.

Barton was breathing hard when he finally stopped, still sitting on the god. Loki heard a quiet groan escape his own lips; he tried to look around, tried to... He didn't know  _what_  he was trying to do. Was there something, _someone_ here that could help him? No. Barton would kill him here, retribution for his stolen will, he would-

"So," said Barton, suddenly so close, leaning down, grating whispered voice falling over Loki. "I have no idea why," he said slowly, "but I just have the sudden urge to  _fuck_  you until you  _bleed._ "

The god forced his eyes to open, although it still took longer than he wanted. His bloodied lips moved, forming words that hurt his throat. "W-what?" he croaked, trying to focus on the archer's form hovering so near.

"It's the damnedest thing," said the mortal, voice thick with something Loki didn't want to acknowledge. "I want to hurt you. I  _really_  want to hurt you, but... I also want to fuck your brains out like there's no tomorrow." He glanced out the window. "And it looks like there might not be a tomorrow," he smiled, mirthless, almost angry. He pointed, "I should be  _out there_ ; but instead I'm in here," he leaned down, "with  _you._  And I'm thinking I should just go ahead and get it over with."

Loki frowned and shook his head weakly. He had expected the one thing, being beaten senseless, being  _punished_  in a sensible - if painful and brutal - and  _understandable_  way, but not  _that_ , please not that! And...  _again_...

Renewed fear surged through Loki and he tried to push Barton off by turning, but he was too weak and the archer was determined to stay put. The god could barely move his arms, he was just  _too tired_.

Barton lifted up then turned Loki over on his stomach, the trickster unable to resist even a little. "Please," Loki begged, tired of this, tired of  _everything._ How could this happen again?

"Oh," said Barton coldly, "now  _you're_ begging me.  _I_  couldn't even do  _that_!" he screamed into Loki's ear.

There was silence for a moment. Then, "I begged you before," Loki almost whispered into the cold floor. "Don't you remember?"

Barton didn't answer. Until, a moment later he said, "No." His voice was low, flat. "No, I don't." Something in his voice told him otherwise.

A single tear dropped from the end of Loki's nose. "Please don't do this," Loki said, his tone stronger than he realized.

"I have to," said Barton. "I don't know why, but I have to."

It wasn't until his breeches were being lowered that Loki could even acknowledge what was happening. He didn't cry anymore, but he wanted to, oh how he wanted to. But he was just too tired of it, tired of this world, tired of his thoughts, of  _fighting._  He wanted to forget himself, his pride, his anger, his  _glorious purpose_... He wanted to  _go home_. He wanted his mother, even his father, but most of all, he wanted  _his brother_.

One more tear fell. Was Thor dead? Did he kill him when he pushed that button? Loki always ruined everything, he couldn't do right - couldn't do right by his brother, his family, his enemies, his allies,  _no one_. Because that's  _what he was._  He was a failure, a monster.  _Monster..._

He deserved this.

"Loki."

A sudden anger surged through the trickster. " _Just get it over with!_ " he screamed at Barton. But when nothing happened, when the air remained still and cool, and the archer had yet to  _do_  anything, Loki realized that it wasn't the mortal that had said his name.

Loki didn't dare look up. "Th-Thor..?"

"Fuck," hissed the archer, still holding Loki down.

The trickster whimpered.  _Can't be... can't be! Is he... truly here?_  He now dared lift his head, to dare to hope... His heart leapt into his throat and his voice worked on its own. "B-Brother..." he whispered.

"Agent Barton?" Thor stared at the two, hammer loosely gripped, confusion mingled with anger on his golden face.

"Please... brother..." Loki said, finally crying. "I'm sorry... I am so sorry..." he shook his head desperately. "Please..."

"Be quite, Loki," said Thor, voice deep and calm, but the trickster couldn't read his tone. Was he angry?  _He should be_ , thought the younger god.  _I would be._  Whatever the thunder god felt, Loki obeyed.

"Thor," said Barton as he chuckled nervously. He lifted off Loki and stood up. "What the hell're you doing here-"

"Barton," said Thor, eyes flicking to the archer. Loki could  _feel_  the archer's fear spike suddenly. There was a storm in those blue eyes and the anger there could split mountains. "Out. Now."

The archer didn't even hesitate; he scrambled and ran out of the room and disappeared from Loki's vision.

A deathly silence passed. The commotion of the battle muted, the two princes silent, unmoving. Then, despite his injuries, his fear of rejection, of the thunderer's justified  _wrath_ , Loki got up, stumbled forward, then quickly wrapped his arms around Thor's neck.

For a moment, nothing happened. And then, slowly, very slowly, an arm snaked up and held Loki around the waist. The other hand held Mjolnir at his side.

Loki wanted to speak, but some part of him, the part that was still Thor's little brother, the part that had grown up listening to the elder, the part that somehow held on to Asgard, to home, to the thought that it had been his future king that had given the order to  _be quiet, Loki_ , couldn't muster a single word on his silver-tongue.

So instead the tears fell. And then Mjolnir fell, the floor cracking under its weight, a second arm joining the first.

Loki sighed at the too-tight embrace, ignoring the pain it caused him.

X - X

Thor had told him to  _stay here_ , so here Loki sat, waiting. Thor had also understood that there was nothing Loki could do to stop the Chitauri army because he hadn't asked Loki to try. Before he left, Thor found the scepter and took it with him, and told Loki not to harm anyone else without cause; and even then, he wasn't to kill them. The trickster had nodded without question, although he worried about any other mortals that might happen by. Unlikely, of course, but still... he hugged himself tightly and hid in a corner, knees drawn up to his chest.

And he waited.

 _Stay here_.

Loki's anger and pride had gotten him nowhere so far; he had only hurt the one person who actually _cared_ , and who could protect him. So yes. If Thor said stay here, then he would do just that. He didn't want to think anymore, to plan, to scheme, he didn't want to be  _in charge_. It was exhausting, and Loki was already too tired before it had all begun.

The battle waged outside. Chitauri flew by the tower, the great flying beasts crashed into buildings, bellowing their terrible song across the sky.

Then, after so long, it was quiet. It was over. The portal had somehow been closed, and Loki was numb. He hadn't exactly  _helped_  the mortals, but he also hadn't done as he had promised to the Chitauri. The threat ate at his insides, making his stomach hurt, his heart ache. But what could he do? He would have never succeeded with all the mortals throwing themselves at him whenever he happened by. He couldn't  _command_  anyone - and in this condition, not even those under a spell meant to bind them to his will. And... he no longer wished to. Ants the mortals may be, but apparently even ants could hold power - and  _wield_ that power, since they had found a way to shut down the Tesseract.

He dreaded what would happen to him now. Thor still seemed angry at him - or, perhaps  _disappointed_. Loki shivered at the thought, at the memory of that  _look_  in Thor's blue eyes. He had always  _hated_  that look in Odin's one eye, but to see it on his brother's face... it made Loki crumble.

* * *

There was still something they needed to take care of. Loki was still at Stark's tower, and Thor hoped against all hope that he was  _still_  there, that he had not fled. He had to admit to himself that it was a test for the trickster, and something in him told him Loki would pass. Despite his younger brother's injuries, he would heal, and he could still make his escape. But to where? His allies were gone, dead, and when the Tesseract met the point of the scepter, the remaining people under the scepter's power returned to themselves.

The Avengers walked cautiously across the floor of Stark's tower, looking for the trickster god.

"I must ask you all to stay away when we find him," Thor said to the others as they gathered near the center of the room. Except for the bar, most of the room was still intact. "And Banner," Thor said to the green beast, who growled at him.  _Ah, of course_ , mused Thor. " _Hulk_ ," he corrected, "may I ask you to return to Banner? My brother is no longer a threat."

The creature huffed once then slowly returned to the small unassuming man, who clutched at his falling, tattered trousers and looked around at the devastation.

Thor smiled and nodded once in thanks.

"You really think that's true?" asked Romanoff, looking around.

"Yeah," said Stark, still in his suit, although his helmet had been removed. "He brought that army here, killed Coulson, dropped  _you_  out of the freakin' helicarrier-"

"All true," said Thor, still searching for his brother. "But he is  _no longer_  a threat. I will not tolerate any action against him without provocation..." he trailed off.  _Where is he? Has he run?_  Thor felt anger slowly welling up at the thought and thunder rumbled outside.

A small whimper floated toward them from the far corner of the room. Thor jerked around and ran over to the sound, avoiding debris along the way.

"Loki?" he said as he approached the hiding trickster. The younger god hid behind his knees, eyes wide and staring at Thor approaching. His bruised and bloody face made all of Thor's previous anger melt away. "Loki," Thor said again. "Are you well?" He crouched down next to the trembling god.

Loki nodded frantically, although it seemed more a reflex than an answer.

"Brother," said Thor with a hand on the other's knee. "Come out? I will keep the others away. They will not attack you. And," he looked to the others, then back to his brother, "both Rogers and Banner appear unaffected; we will keep the others away from you. Will you come out?" He extended a hand, waiting for Loki to take it.

He eyed it warily, then looked to Thor's face, then back at the hand. Carefully, the smaller god took the offered aid, then allowed Thor to help him stand as the other arm wrapped around Loki's waist to help him walk.

As the two princes emerged, the elder watched the younger carefully as the younger watched the others in the room anxiously. When Loki caught sight of Barton and Romanoff, he inhaled sharply and shrunk into Thor, trying to hide.

"Hey there, reindeer games!" said the Iron Man in mock enthusiasm,  _unhelpful_  mock enthusiasm. Thor glared at him; Loki avoided his gaze. "What? Are we supposed to tip-toe around Mr-Take-Over-the-World now?"

"Stark," scolded Captain Rogers, "this can wait; you're not helping."

"Whatever," Stark crossed his metal arms. "Just keep him away from me or I might do something he regrets to his pretty little head."

Thor literally  _growled_  at Stark, pure instinct.

Stark held up both hands. "Relax, Mr. Blonde."

The captain glared at Stark out of the corner of his eye. "He'll  _relax_  when you stop saying things like that about his brother."

The genius shrugged. "I can't help it if I want to fuck his little bro."

Steve turned fully to Stark and stood inches from his face. "You know, Tony, the  _only_  reason we're not about to go at it is because I know you're not yourself right now. Now  _back off_  and  _shut up_."

Stark stared back boredly but said nothing. Agent Barton smirked. "I don't know about you guys, but I agree with Stark," he said.

Loki lowered his head and clung to Thor, nearly hiding his face in the thunderer's shoulder.

"Clint," interrupted Agent Romanoff, although her voice was gentle.

"Don't  _even_ , Nat." He pointed at her, " _You_  fucked him, too!" She raised a single brow and stared at him without blinking. "And don't tell me you wouldn't again, because I know  _I_ fucking would."

Thor held Loki tighter as the younger began trembling.

Rogers stepped forward, between the two brothers and the rest of the Avengers. "No one's getting near him; even SHIELD has agreed to stay away." He turned to look at the two. "They're going back to Asgard...  _today._ "

Complaints rose up from everyone except Banner. Thor joined in, arguing that it was for the best, that they would return to themselves once Loki left. Loki himself said nothing, but now hid his face under Thor's chin when the others began yelling. Then, suddenly, the ceaseless trembling from his brother combined with the grating voices of the others felt like needles in Thor's head.

" _Silence!_ " Thor bellowed over the others as a flash of light lit up the sky, followed by a crack of thunder that rattled the entire building. Virtually everyone jumped or winced.

Unsurprisingly, everyone fell silent.

Thor stared at them all for a moment with determined eyes, then looked to Loki. "Brother, do you have something to say?"

A moment passed, Loki's eyes glanced at the others, then, he shook his head as he looked to the floor.

The thunder god nodded. "Very well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this is as far as I've written for this fic, so updates might slow down a bit, depending.
> 
> Here's a question, as I mentioned earlier. I have at least two different directions planned for this story; I like both of them, so I'm asking my readers which one they might like more (without spoiling it too much).
> 
> 1) I go for one or two more chapters, but the story is pretty much ended. I felt like this was a good stopping point, and you know what they say about stopping while you're ahead. There would be discussions of what's happened, etc., but there would be no more "action".
> 
> 2) I go for several more chapters, but it's likely to get... messy. I'm afraid this option will most likely lead to extreme angst and drama, and, most probably, something like gang-rape. I really couldn't see it going any other way lest it get repetitive. So basically, that would be the climax of the story (dear me, that word is not right).
> 
> If no one wishes to make comments on which one (or a third option, if you have any ideas) they would prefer, I'll just decide myself. But truly, don't be afraid to say which one you might like more, and feel free to make your case, if you'd like.
> 
> Until next time! ;D


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So very, very sorry for taking a long time to update this fic - I've not only been super busy but I couldn't decide what to go with. I'd rather not say just *which* path I've decided on (because spoilers), but I will say that people who wanted option two outnumbered those who wanted option one about 2-to-1, lol (I tallied votes from here and ff.net together). Either way, most of you seemed to want the fic to go longer so here you go, it'll be at least a couple more chapters after this, I think. It's also an extra long chapter since I took so long to update. Enjoy!
> 
> Random note: quite a few of you wanted an 'option three'. I can't fulfill all of those, obviously, but I might write a one-shot where, as Firin on ff.net put it, 'Loki and Thor return to Asgard and Thor takes care of Lokis "heat" problem.' Lol. I like a bit of Thorki PWP on occasion, I think I might write that (of course it would be completely un-canon as far as this story goes and it probably won't make much sense - but when does porn ever?).

The three 'affected ones' - Barton, Romanoff, and Stark - had been forced out of the room by Thor and Rogers; however, in the end it took Banner threatening to release his beast before they would leave. The captain ordered them to retrieve the Tesseract from the roof.

Loki was allowed to sit on the only remaining couch as Thor paced and Rogers sat on a stair, eyeing him. The trickster tried his best to ignore the soldier, but couldn't help but squirm a little under his scrutinizing gaze.

"I'm sorry," said the soldier suddenly. Loki looked to him. "I didn't mean to stare, it's just..." He sighed. "This whole... thing, is just so crazy." He shook his head. "I don't know what to say. Or... even who to blame."

Without hesitation Loki spoke, "Blame me."

Thor whipped around, "Loki."

"No, Thor," Loki said before Thor could speak further. "I brought this on myself - on... them. If I had simply returned... back to Asgard, none of this would have happened. None of-" he didn't know what he was saying, he didn't know how to weave the truth into his words - such a foreign thing to his tongue. He sighed and looked to the floor. "None of this would have happened if I had just...  _returned home_."

Thor sat next to him and rubbed his back with soothing circles. Loki had the urge to both jerk away from the touch and to lean into it; he couldn't decide which was worse.

But he couldn't have returned, could he? Not until he had fulfilled what he was meant to-

Suddenly, Rogers, Thor and Banner - who stood awkwardly in a too large tunic across the room - all stood to attention, as if something had suddenly occurred to the three that Loki couldn't see.

"What is it?" he asked Thor, who frowned slightly as a hand went to his ear. He said nothing, however, as Rogers spoke up.

"There's something happening on the roof," he said in worry as he stood up and looked toward the ceiling, as if he could see what was happening even through the solid walls. "Repeat, Stark, I can't-" he cut himself off, eyes wide and looking around.

Thor, too, stood up and grabbed Mjolnir in the same instant.

"Thor," said Loki, his own worry growing, "what's happening?"

"Wait a moment, brother-"

"Damn," cut in Banner's voice.

"We have to go, now," said the soldier, calm but clearly concerned over something. He began moving toward the transporting device at the end of the room as Banner moved to follow.

"I will stay here," said Thor resolutely.

Rogers nodded, barely glancing at the god as he spoke to what seemed to be the air, or it seemed to Loki. "Stark! Romanoff!" the soldier hissed to the air in annoyance as he jammed his finger on the button that called the metal contraption.

"Maybe I shouldn't go up there," said Banner. "Might make it worse..."

Loki didn't hear Rogers' response as he was too focused on Thor.  _Thor._  He was staying here for  _him_ , Loki knew. Whatever was happening with the rest of the Avengers, Thor was clearly reluctant to leave his younger sibling alone.

"Thor," said the trickster calmly. The elder looked to him, the crease between his brows growing. "You should go."

There was silence for a moment, then, "No, brother, I cannot. There may still be others in the tower-"

" _Thor_ ," Loki stood up and took a step toward him, then stood up straighter when he said, " _Go._ " Thor shook his head, yet still Loki could see his resolve already breaking.  _He can't stay here...stay here because of_ me _. All this is my fault, I should never have come._  Suddenly he couldn't stand the thought of Thor not forgiving him because something happened to his friends, something that  _Thor_  might have been able to prevent. The Hulk was unstable and more a blunt instrument than even Mjolnir - of the remaining Avengers, Thor was the most powerful.

"But surely they could-" Thor began, but cut himself off as he looked down with eyes wide. Loki then realized each of the Avengers most likely had some sort of communication device in their ears, which explained why they suddenly knew what was happening.

An explosion rocked the building as debris and the edge of the blast could be seen out the window. Whatever it was had happened on the roof - where the other Avengers were. Could it be the Chitauri? Had some of them survived somehow? Loki didn't know, but what he  _did_  know was that Thor had to go-  _Go...leave me again..._  He shook his head and said, even more determined, "Thor, go. I'll be safe here. Just go."

The thunder god nodded slowly, although his eyes betrayed his worry. "I will return soon." He began to leave but stepped closer at the last moment. "Hide if you must, brother. There is no shame in it."

Loki gave a small smile, trying to reassure his brother - and himself - that everything would be alright. He nodded. Thor left.

* * *

When Thor reached the roof there was little more than smoke and twisted metal. The stairs - which they had opted to take when the elevator would go no further - were a mangled mess of twisted metal that was hot to the touch.

"Stark! Barton! Romanoff?" yelled Rogers as he walked out onto what was left of the roof. Banner rushed passed Thor with some sort of medical kit in his hands. The scientist muttered a curse under his breath at the sight before them.

"Where are they?" asked Thor, looking about. Smoke obscured almost the entire area, reaching the sky in a choking ash that clung to every surface and covered the midday sun.

"I don't know," said the soldier quietly, picking through the debris.

A quiet groan reached their ears from the left. Immediately, all three men rushed to a half-broken wall, trying their best not to knock anything over. Small pieces of grey stone moved as they heard another sound - it was clearly a woman's voice.

"Here, here!" yelled Rogers as he knelt down next to the wall, his hands scrambling and searching to find the owner of the voice.

Slowly, a dust-covered red-haired head emerged from the debris, coughing and sitting up.

"Agent Romanoff," said Banner as he moved to help her up along with the soldier. The space between the wall and the larger chunks of what most likely had been the  _actual_  roof were too small for Thor to fit through, thus he waited to see if the men would need more help. Fortunately, the agent seemed mostly well as she stood up fairly quickly, looking about and shaking her head as pieces of debris fell.

Banner looked her over and advised her to sit, but the agent seemed distracted, looking around, almost ignoring the others.

"Agent Romanoff," said Rogers, but she didn't seem to hear him. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, pulling her gaze toward him. " _Natasha_ ," he said, "what  _happened_?"

Then, slowly, the agent's face contorted, anger flooding her features, eyes narrowing as she spoke. " _I'll kill them_ ," she seethed through clenched teeth.

All three men frowned.

* * *

It was so similar to the first time he had been hit Loki almost flashed back to Germany, to the long hard stairs that had impacted his back. Of course, it hadn't  _hurt_  quite as much then. Now... well.

The man of iron had crashed in through one of his windows, the glass flying across the room and falling like sparkling rain around the trickster god. Instinctively, Loki had crouched down, covering his head. Then, the blast had come, hitting him somewhere along his side. This time, though, he had fallen on his stomach, and the next thing he knew he was being pinned down by someone wearing black as they sat on his back.

"Lookie what we caught, Momma," said a voice behind him.  _Barton_ , Loki recognized immediately. Then, his mind finally caught up to what was happening, of  _who_  was sitting on him, and Loki began to struggle. The fact that it was useless hadn't yet pushed past his instinctive panic, as his hands pathetically clawed against the hard floor.

He heard the heavy  _clunk_  of the Iron Man's boots hitting the floor, then, as something struck the back of his head. Darkness.

X - X

He didn't know how long he had been unconscious, only that he had been, and that his head  _hurt_.

 _Where am I?_  He tried to open his eyes, then realized they were already open. A soft cloth covered his eyes and, to his further dismay, there was something in his mouth as well.  _No..._  The rush of memories didn't help as he tried to move his limbs.  _No!_  his mind screamed, realizing he was tied hand and foot on his stomach on a cold moving surface.  _Moving?_  Whatever it was it vibrated through his entire body. A flash of memory told him he was most likely in one of the Midgardian vehicles, being...transported.

Loki began struggling, knowing his captors most likely already knew he was awake. His wrists and ankles were chained together in an uncomfortable position that, as he struggled, he realized there was no way of escaping given the awkwardness of it. He breathed harshly, a small whimper escaping.

"You can struggle all you like, it won't make a difference," said a feminine voice.  _Who is that?_  He didn't recognize the voice - it certainly wasn't Agent Romanoff.

Loki moved his head in the direction of the voice, trying to hear over the pounding in his head. He didn't realize it at first, given his layers of leather, but he felt a hand slowly snaking its way up his back, the suggestion in the movement was so painfully obvious Loki tried to move away, albeit unsuccessfully.

"Hey!" yelled someone -  _Stark?_  - whose voice moved closer. "No touchy-touchy, Agent." The hand lifted.

A snort from the woman. "You've already had your shot, haven't you-?"

"Uh, no, I  _haven't_. That was Barton and Romanoff. You think I'd miss out before he gets shipped off to fairy land or whatever?"

A chuckle next. "I  _thought_ Romanoff seemed different after her  _interrogation_." A tisk and a shuffling of clothes. A hand - the same hand? - ran through Loki's hair next, almost roughly, but he could tolerate it well enough.

"What did I just say?" complained Stark.

"I'm not  _touching_  him, Stark."

"And what do you call that?"

"...Petting?"

The male mortal scoffed and Loki felt the hand in his hair suddenly jerk away. "Don't... _touch_ ," said Stark with a warning in his voice.

A strained silence past, then the woman spoke.

"Touch me  _again_ , Stark, and you'll find out just  _why_  I'm second only to  _Fury_." A pause. "You can put on your suit first, if you'd like-"

"Already heard that one today. Boring."

Another shuffling of clothes, then Loki heard a voice call from far away - or so it seemed to him. "We're here. You guys wanna stop bitching and get him out here?"

* * *

Thor couldn't help it, he really  _couldn't._  He had tried to stop the storm from forming but he was just so  _angry_. Angry at  _them_ , angry at Midgard, angry at  _Loki_  - for sending him away -  _no, not his fault, not his fault_  - but most of all, Thor was angry at  _himself_. He gritted his teeth.  _What a fool I am!_  A trick. Of  _course_  it was a trick. Over a thousand years of living with the  _trickster god_  and Thor still fell for them. Still... why hadn't that very same god figured it out? Or had Loki somehow known? No. That was ridiculous. Even so, it was clear, now with him gone, that Loki had felt guilty about something, hiding his emotions as he always did from Thor.

 _I should have stayed! Damn this realm and damn the frost giants for their bodies and damn the All-father for-_  He stopped.  _No, no..._  It was his own fault. He shouldn't have  _left._

"Are you going to sit there in self-pity for the rest of the day or are we actually going to do something?"

Thor's head jerked up from his hands as he heard the captain's voice near him. The god frowned.

"Because I'm pretty sure they had help if they got Loki out so quickly."

Thor continued frowning, but looked down, thinking.  _Who else could..?_  He looked back at the soldier. "Do you know something, captain?"

Bruce Banner walked up. "I can't get into JARVIS. Looks like Tony shut him down before leaving. Smart bastard," he shook his head. "We can't find them that way."

Both the soldier and the god continued staring at each other, all but ignoring the scientist, even if they heard him.

"Uh, guys?"

Rogers spoke up, looking at the other two. "I think SHIELD might have helped Stark and Barton."

Banner crossed his arms. "Oh? I thought I was the only one who thought that..." Now they both looked to him. He shrugged. "I'm not saying all of SHIELD, but... Well, Loki was inside the helicarrier for a while, there's no way  _none_  of them were affected. I mean...other than that one guy..." he trailed off, avoiding Thor's gaze.

Rogers nodded with determination, straightening his stance. "So we contact SHIELD-"

"Uh, maybe not the best idea," cut in Bruce.

"Why not?" Thor asked.

The scientist shuffled his feet. "Well I'm no expert, but I'm thinking whoever's behind this would be listening in on all of SHIELD's chatter-"

"They'll hear what we have planned," Rogers nodded in agreement. Banner nodded as well.

"Then," began Thor, "what are we to do?" His first instinct, upon finding Loki missing, had been to fly out of the tower and search street to street, but his newfound restraint told him that that plan was not only ridiculous but counter-productive. There were probably millions of mortals in the city, not to mention the chaos that still lingered from the battle. No. That would have been a foolish course of action.

Rogers sighed. "I don't know yet, but we'll find him." And Thor suddenly realized the man was looking straight at him. A firm hand when to his shoulder. "Thor- we'll  _find him_. Right?" It was a statement, not a question.

Thor set his face and clenched his jaw. "Yes. We will find him."

* * *

He had been panicking, yes, all the while on the way here, but now,  _now_  Loki felt true fear.

He felt the crack of his skull when he was tossed onto the ground and felt the hands - so many hands - unchaining his restraints and re-fastening them; his wrists in front and his ankles together. At least he was no longer in such an odd position. But... it could only mean one thing - they had reached their destination and now... Now...

Loki jerked back when the hands began tugging at his clothes. He tried to kick with his feet and somehow  _move_ , somehow  _get away_. He breathed hard and flinched and tried to fight any way he knew how. He protested through his gag, even muffled, and kicked and pulled and rolled.  _No no no!_

"Maybe we should knock him out," came a suggestion from somewhere. Loki's mind didn't bother to identify who was speaking, still struggling in his fear and panic.

"Fuck that," said another. "Why should we? He can't fight back, both Nat and I handled him without even tying him up."

Loki tried to scream through his gag when someone began tugging on his trousers, apparently trying to undo his complicated armor.

"Whatever you say, Barton, how did you get him out of it before?"

"For the record," said a new voice, " _I_  got it off him, too-"

"No one cares, Stark," said the first voice - a woman's.

There was some more fussing over his armor, which only served to make Loki more nervous with anticipation, before he was - seemingly suddenly - all but naked. He had felt tearing and cutting, most likely from a knife, as they were apparently too much in a hurry to figure out his vambraces and other parts which remained.

When Loki attempted to remove his blindfold, at least for a moment so he could at least see  _where_ he was, the others pinned him down and, unfortunately, moved his wrist-restraints behind his back. He cursed himself for his lack of self-control, he might have escaped somehow with his hands in front... Somehow... but how? He was outnumbered and weaker than even  _one_  of them - what could he do?

* * *

It wasn't as if he  _cared_  for Loki but Steve would never wish what was going to happen to him - what  _had_ happened to him - on anyone, even a hated enemy. Not only that, but he truly felt bad for Thor. He clearly blamed himself, and, as much as he hated to admit it, perhaps he should. That didn't absolve the rest of them, though, even Loki himself. The entire situation was handled badly, messily. If Steve was truthful, he blamed himself as well. He wasn't the official team leader, but the others seemed to look to him for guidance - he still wasn't exactly sure why, but he gladly served as leader when they asked it of him.

Now they were looking to him again. Thor was beside himself with guilt, he couldn't think clearly. Bruce was obviously the most intelligent person in their group but he had a hard time asserting himself enough to take the lead. And now they had to deal with Agent Romanoff, one of the best SHIELD had to offer. Still, maybe whatever influence Loki's pheromones had on her might aid them, somehow; perhaps it made her less in control of her emotions, her skills, her... something.

Steve shook his head as he watched the red-head. They had tied her to a chair after Bruce had made sure she wasn't injured. She had some cuts and bruises, which the scientist had treated to the best of his ability, but she was mostly intact. The room was a makeshift interrogation room that Tony had been working on at the insistence of SHIELD. It wasn't yet complete, a large marked area where the one-way mirror should be, but everything else was mostly done.

Strangely, she had barely fought back when they brought her here. That by itself made Steve a little nervous. The agent was clearly angry at Barton and Stark but she was doing a scarily good job of hiding it.

"Why don't you let me go?" she said suddenly, making Steve jump a little as she had been quiet until now. He raised a brow, bemused. "I know Clint better than anyone, who better to find him than his partner?" He continued staring quietly. A small smirk crossed her face a moment. "I'm aware that you don't trust me, captain, but you don't need to. I  _will_  find them, either way. At least this way we can help each other."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why?" he asked plainly, crossing his arms and leaning on the wall.

The corner of her lips moved. "Why not? I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I  _want_  Loki. I'll get to him any way I can, but," she tilted her head. "In the meantime, we have the same goal."

"The same goal..." He eyed her out of the corner of his eye, then looked at her straight. "You know you're not getting anywhere near him again-"

" _He's mine_ ," she growled out through clenched teeth so suddenly, leaning toward Steve against her bonds that he nearly flinched back at the sudden show of emotion. It didn't seem  _natural_. She continued baring her teeth. "He was mine  _first_ , if they touch him I'll  _kill them_."

Her wild wide eyes made Steve want to look away but he held firm. "Is that why they left you?"

All at once her composure returned as she leaned back in her chair, almost as if it had been her choice all along to be here. She smiled with tight lips.

* * *

The moment Loki felt himself moved onto his back - which was quite uncomfortable where his hands were bound - he felt a second pair of hands holding him possessively, as if in opposition to the other two hands that had moved him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" asked the first pair.

The second pair, smaller, but no less strong, clearly belonged to the only woman in their company. "What, do you expect me to take him while he's on his stomach?"

"You can wait your  _turn_ , Agent Hill-"

"And why do  _you_  get to go first,  _Stark_?"

"I'd say highest IQ before beauty, but - I win on both those accounts-"

"Why don't you  _both_  shut the fuck up?" Silence for a moment, then, "Fair's fair, I'll let one of you go first since I already went,  _but_ , I'm going second."

"Why do you get to go second?" asked the woman, who Loki now recognized as Agent Maria Hill, Fury's second in command. "You should go last-"

"Like hell I will."

The three continued bickering as Loki worked his head and arms, trying to get free of  _something_. If not his bonds then his blindfold or gag. It wouldn't, perhaps, make any difference in the end, but he had to do _something_ ; he couldn't just lay here and wait while three people argued about who would  _violate_  him first. It was so ridiculous he had a hard time even forming thoughts at it.

Of all things, the first thing Loki managed to get free of was his gag, but as soon as he did he wasn't sure what he could do with the small measure of freedom. The others continued arguing, their voices becoming louder.

Before he could control himself he felt a small cough escape.

Silence.

_Wonderful._

"Well, shit. That's great," said Stark. "If we keep going like this he'll be out the door before we know it!"

When Loki felt someone's hands attempting to work the gag back into place, he tried to speak, knowing he might not get another chance. "W-wait...please," he managed, tilting his head away.

"Hm?" said Stark, as if absent-mindedly.

"I...I just wanted to say..."  _Say what?_  Loki wondered. What could he say? His mind worked at a speed he hadn't thought possible, his thousand years of manipulations and schemes coming to the forefront, scrambling, _desperately_ , to work something out.

"What is it?" asked Barton, clearly annoyed. "Spit it out before we shut you up again."

"Is letting him talk really a good idea..?" mumbled Hill.

Quickly, Loki cleared his throat, not wanting the others to listen to her. "Please, I..."  _Think, think!_  "I just wanted to...could you..."

" _What?_ " said somebody, he wasn't sure who.

"...Could Barton go first?"

The silence that followed was almost amusing - except it wasn't. Loki felt his heart bursting in his chest, what had he just said?

"Seriously?" said Stark flatly. The gag was replaced quickly and Loki's further protests were muffled.

There was silence again, for a moment. Loki now held his breath even though he wanted to gasp every breath as if it were his last.

For a while, nothing happened. Then-

"Why the fuck do you want  _him_  to go first?" said Stark next.

"It doesn't even make sense," said Hill. "It wouldn't even hurt with me; why would you want  _him_?" She sounded...angry.

Loki made a noise as if to reply.

Barton spoke next. "He just knows I'll be gentle." Loki could almost sense the glares of the others.  _Gentle. Oh yes, I remember how_ gentle _you were, Barton._  Sarcasm seemed fairly pointless at the moment, however.

Silence again.

"You're not taking him first," said Stark adamantly. A shift of wind.

"What're you gonna-" began Barton.

"You already said  _you were going second_!" whined Stark. Movement, like clothes shuffling.

Whatever they were doing, it seemed all three were away from Loki at the moment. With his short reprieve from their watchful eyes, Loki renewed his attempts to escape.

He heard Barton yelling and the sound of something hitting a wall.  _Are they fighting now?_  It was more than Loki could hope for.  _Please, please..._  He desperately pulled on the metal around his wrists, and when he felt the decidedly distinct  _groan_  of metal twisting, he held his breath.  _What-_

Fortunately, the others continued to fight amongst each other as Loki lay stiffly against the ground. Momentarily, he lost control of his body as it went numb.  _What- how?_ He quickly forced his thoughts out of his head and pulled again, feeling the metal give under his strength. The metal creaked and, suddenly, the chain connecting his cuffs snapped. He paused, afraid the others would hear, but they seemed to be physically shoving each other, now.

As quietly and slowly as he could, Loki moved his hands to his front and peeked under his blindfold. The room blinded him the moment he looked. Still, he had seen enough. The three were across the room, near a table and two chairs that were shoved against the wall. To Loki's left was an area marked with a large red square, and to his right- He quickly pushed the cloth up a moment.  _Yes!_  The door. But was it locked? It was a silvery-metal and solid in appearance, he could only hope that it wasn't locked.

Again, without drawing attention to himself, Loki worked at the bindings on his legs. They, too, broke easily enough. But why? Thinking back, he suddenly realized he hadn't truly been  _trying_  until now. The metal was still strong, yes, but under strain it snapped.

It didn't make sense... Or did it? A flash of memory, of when he hit Thor, jumped back into his head, and all at once he understood. His strength remained the same, except where  _others_  were concerned - or, more specifically, the people who were influenced by his condition; that was why he could still hit Thor in the same manner he always had. He still lacked most of his magic, of course, but his natural strength remained mostly intact, but for whatever reason, his body refused to fight against those who desired him.

He shook his head; he didn't have time to think about this. He knew rushing across the room would draw attention, but no matter  _how_  he did it, they would see him. The room was very bright and there was no way he could sneak passed them discreetly.  _So,_  he thought,  _I will have to run._  He still hurt all over but he could ignore the pain long enough to escape, he was sure. He barely even felt his body as he moved to run.

 _Now...now...now!_  Loki ran for the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. You're all saying 'WTF, Thor! And Loki! And everyone for letting that happen! BAD everyone!' or something along those lines. Lol, I guess you still don't know exactly what I'm going for here. I also know it's an evil cliffhanger, I'll try not to take too long for the next update but my brain works on its own schedule so we'll see.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Profuse apologies to everyone for taking so long with this update! I actually forgot I had stopped on a cliffhanger last chapter (thought I'd gotten this bit out, actually). So again, sorry for that. However, it also means that I have several more chapters to go than I previously thought - I figured I had one or two chapters left, turns out it'll probably be more like three or four, not sure yet.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's still keeping up with this fic and reviewing. I know my updates are sporadic, at best, so thanks for sticking around! ^^

His three pursuers stumbled over each other trying to get to him and it gave Loki the time he needed to make it down a corridor and into a room. Whatever this place is, it has lots of rooms and hallways at every turn. It also appeared to be unfinished.

He heard the three pass by the room he was hiding in but didn't dare venture out until he heard their footsteps disappear. Slowly, carefully, he peeked out.

No one.

Not even daring to sigh, Loki left the room and tried a different route from the one he had taken. Although hiding in one spot and waiting it out seemed appealing, he knew staying still would ultimately be disastrous; the three were very determined and this place was unfamiliar to him.

He darted down another corridor and tried several doors, wondering if one might lead to the outside. But was there an outside? So far he hadn't seen any windows, what was this place? Occasionally he would see yellow marks painted on the walls, although they appeared to serve no purpose.

Voices drifted toward him and the god all but jumped into a room to his right, closing the door lightly and leaning against the wall beside it.

"This could take forever," said a female voice, muffled by the door.

A male voice responded but he sounded further away so Loki couldn't understand him. Doors were being opened and closed, although based on the number and placement of the sounds Loki guessed they weren't trying  _every_ door. He desperately hoped they would skip over this room.

* * *

"This isn't getting us anywhere," sighed a tired-sounding Banner. He ran a hand through his mussed hair as he tapped at a computer console.

Thor was getting restless. He knew that Stark and Barton both were clever, but surely their comrades could figure out where they might have gone? Or perhaps SHIELD? It had been far too long already, Loki could have been... He pushed the thoughts out of his head as he approached the scientist.

"Banner," said Thor.

"Hm?" said Bruce absently as he slowly looked up at Thor, obviously still preoccupied with whatever he was doing to try and find Loki.

"Is there something I can do?" he asked, even knowing there probably wasn't.

The scientist sighed. "I don't know, Thor. Stark disabled JARVIS-" he paused at Thor's confused expression. "Uh, he's an artificial, uh...personality, that Stark created to... Look, never mind, he could have helped us find them...maybe." He squinted at the screen and started tapping at it. "I'm not exactly a computer genius so I'm letting SHIELD handle JARVIS; still, there might be something in Stark's files that might help. I don't know..." he trailed off and looked up at Thor. "Sorry," he finished, smiling sympathetically at the thunder god. "We'll keep trying."

Thor nodded. He was grateful that they were trying so hard to find his brother - even SHIELD, although he suspected it was for different reasons on their part - but he himself felt so  _useless_.

Squaring his shoulders he quickly decided that the only real help they could find would have to come from the one person that was the closest to their enemy, at the moment.

 

X - X

The Black Widow sat nonchalantly against her chair, as if she wasn't tied to it at all. As Thor walked in he felt like he was interrupting something - could Rogers be making progress with her? Thor had seen how the agent had handled Loki, of all people, thus he doubted the captain would be able to garner the Widow's help - at least without some sort of concession on their part, which, given the only thing she _wanted_ , would be impossible to accede.

Rogers didn't seem to notice Thor entering.

"It's very simple, Steve," said the woman, "I help you find Loki - and the others - and all I ask is a little time alone with him-"

"'Simple'," interrupted the soldier, incredulous. "You do realize that Thor would never allow that-"

" _Thor_ \- of course not." She seemed to be purposefully avoiding looking at Thor. "But maybe a certain trickster god would be grateful if I helped rescue him-"

" _Rescue?_  Are you hearing yourself right now? Rescue him from what, the same thing you're trying to do to him? This is insane-" He finally noticed Thor standing by the door. "Oh. Uh..." He walked over to Thor, whispering, "She's not really making any sense." Thor leaned in to listen. "She's also  _determined_  to get to him; every attempt at negotiation ends with her saying she just wants..." he trailed off. "Well, you know."

Thor nodded and whispered back, eyeing the agent for a moment. "Can we agree to her request and simply..." he tilted his head, uncomfortable at the thought, "... _not_  follow through with it at the end." He winced at his own words; this was something Loki would come up with - how strangely appropriate, then.

Rogers stared at him.

"What?" asked Thor, frowning. "Can we not do that?"

"Uh, no, it-it's not that, it's just...I'm not sure any of us could successfully lie to  _her_. I hate to speak for you but you don't exactly seem like the type of guy that could pull that off."

The thunderer scratched his beard for a moment.  _He's right..._  "No, you are correct, of course. Still..."

He approached the Black Widow, hand gripping his hammer tightly.

"Lady Romanoff," he began, "your terms are acceptable. If you aid us in finding my brother-"

She started laughing, a harsh coughing sound, showing her exasperation. "I wouldn't in a million years believe that."

"And yet you asked."

"I was just assuming you guys weren't stupid. That you knew there was just  _one_  thing on my mind and that everything I said would be a lie if it didn't lead toward that goal."

The captain stepped up. "Then why even say anything? Why the song and dance if you knew we'd never agree?"

She shrugged, looking around boredly. "If I can't have him then no one can. I'd rather have you guys get to him than let  _them_  have him."

Rogers gave a small annoyed sound, walking away from her. Thor followed, again leaning in, their backs to her. "See what I mean?" whispered Steve. "She  _doesn't make sense_. On the one hand she wants to help us get to him but on the other she doesn't care as long he's not with  _them_ \- it's making my head spin."

"Perhaps that is her purpose."

"To what, confuse us? But what does it get her? She's almost- it's like she knows that we know and we all know everything so there's no reason to  _lie_  to us so she's just..." he gritted his teeth in frustration. " _I don't know_ ," he nearly hissed.

Turning around, the two men froze. She was gone.

* * *

Loki dashed for what looked to be a stairwell at the end of the corridor. Hill and...whoever it was had left barely seconds earlier and he was afraid they might come back, search the rest of the rooms.

To his dismay the stairs only led up, but still, at least it might put more distance between him and them.

He gripped the railing tightly and gritted his teeth against the pain, determination pushing him. The stairs led up many floors and Loki wondered on which level an exit might be. There was no way to know. The floors weren't numbered.

Reaching the fourth level up he was stopped by a pile of equipment and debris, his path further up closed off.  _Well of course._  It couldn't be  _that_  easy, now could it? Still, he was a little further away from them, or so he hoped.

This floor was much the same as the others: equipment, some sort of white dust, a clear flimsy substance that covered some parts, and rooms that were mostly empty. Unfortunately, many of the rooms here also didn't have doors yet.

His eyes darted about, trying to come up with something...a  _plan_ , something more than just this running about in half-made rooms and hallways, waiting for someone to jump out and attack him.

The sound of a door opening and closing echoed up the stairwell behind him. Panic gripping him, he ran down the hallway, turning left and right mindlessly, afraid someone was on their way to his location. He quickly hid inside a darkened room - which unfortunately also didn't have a door - just as he heard footsteps following. He tried his best to control his breathing but his chest ached, along with everything else, making it difficult.

Whoever it was they were light-footed; probably Barton, being an archer, or Hill, being a woman. Stark wasn't exactly a lumbering muscle-bound oaf, either, though. And what did it matter, anyway?

"I can hear you breathing..." teased the voice.  _Hill, then._

There wasn't much point in hiding anymore. Loki stood up slowly from behind a large crate, eyes casting about in case there were more of them. It appeared to be only Hill, however.  _For now._

"There you are," she said, then stepped toward him.

Loki backed away slowly as she approached, back hitting the wall, but before she reached him he put up a hand, "Wait, wait," he began, heart pounding furiously in his chest.

Her eyes narrowed. "If you think I'll fall for your  _silver-tongue_  you have another thing coming." She continued forward but stopped a step away as Loki lifted both hands in surrender.

"Just... _wait!_ " he hissed, trying to keep his composure- or what was left of it, if any.

"I'm not sure why I should-"

"I...just..." he stumbled for words but they came anyway, "I-I'll go with you." She studied him, eyes narrowing further. He swallowed as she, very slowly, walked toward him. The wall against his back wasn't helping anything. "If you protect me from the others," he managed finally, "I'll go with you. I'm sure you can imagine, out of the three of you,  _which_  of you would be the least unpleasant..."

She stopped only when her face was nearly touching his; he could feel the heat radiating from her body. "Why should I trust you?" she asked, quietly.

He shook his head lightly. "I told you-"

"And it certainly is the most  _logical_  plan for you, but I still don't trust you." She closed the distance, still very slowly, and pushed her body against his.

Loki froze, trying not to squirm away or push her down - even if he couldn't. Her uniform felt both soft and rough against his skin, he wanted to scratch at it, rub the sensation away. "I-If the others find me -  _us_ \- then this  _plan_  will be for nothing." She smelled his neck but did little else; it still unnerved him. "We sh-should leave. The others won't be far behind, I'm certain."

What  _was_  this plan, anyway? Did he truly mean to leave this place with her? He didn't need to look very deep to hear a clear, resounding  _no_  answer back. Even so, if he could turn at least  _one_  of them to his side, if only for the moment, he might be able to escape from them later.

"Then let them come," she whispered to him, then all but bit his neck with a low growl as Loki shrunk back at the sudden aggression. She didn't stop him but she didn't back up any. "If you really want  _me_  to have you instead of them, then prove it."

Loki's eyes widened for a split second but he quickly covered it up with a curiously raised eyebrow. "But..." he looked around, worry growing. "W-we don't have time for that - we should leave.  _Now._ "

Her self-control seemed to be slipping as she roughly pushed up against him, pinning him against the wall with her hands on his shoulders. She inhaled deeply then wrapped her arms around his neck, hands running through his hair and softly pulling. Loki couldn't help but think how animalistic the entire thing seemed, that perhaps if he didn't move too much she wouldn't strike.

Possible options and ways out ran through his mind; if he  _did_  commit to this course of action, how far would he have to go? What if one or both of the others found them, what would they do? And if he decided  _not_  to follow her suggestion of  _proving it_ , then what could he do? He couldn't get away from her now, wouldn't it be better to at least feign compliance, if only to protect what might be left of his shattered dignity?

There really  _wasn't_  a choice, was there...

And as if to prove that point, Loki was suddenly pushed to the ground on his back, so quickly he wondered how he had gotten there. His left elbow hit the floor and he yelped in surprise.

She straddled him but did nothing else but sit, her silhouette all he could see in the dark.

"So?" she said in a low voice. "Are you going to prove it or not?"

 _Prove it... prove it?_  He didn't know if he would be able to. He was too nervous and the whole situation was so strange, he could barely even get his mind around what was happening.

She leaned over him, hands flanking his head. "Or should I...help you along?"

And suddenly it was Loki's memories assaulting him, memories of earlier that day -  _has it been so short a time?_  - when another had held him down. Was it truly happening  _again_?

The next moment he lost control of his limbs as he desperately tried to throw her off, lost in his own thoughts.  _No! It can't happen again!_  He knew it was useless, but he couldn't stop himself. To his dismay, a loud noise of protest escaped him and he wondered if any of the others might hear.

Hill didn't seem taken aback, she quickly grabbed his flailing arms and pinned them down above his head.

Loki hissed, momentarily angry, although a small whimper escaped next. "Please don't do this..." he started. Then rethought his words. "Just...not right now." He tried to control his breathing, not lash out again. "I..."  _What can I say? What am I to do?_  "We have to  _leave_. I'll go with you, I swear. Just...I can't...not right now.  _Please._ "

So pathetic. There was too much danger here, more than just the mortal holding him down at the moment. He just wanted to  _get out._   _Get away_ , he didn't care where or with whom.

"I'll go with you, I'll go with you," he said again, desperation rough in his voice. "I swear, please,  _please_."

She smiled. Even in the dark he could see it. The long pause, the breaths exchanged between them, made him want to cringe. Then, finally, she said, "I really,  _really_  wish I could believe you..." Her smile was gone the next moment, her body tense. "Shit..." she mumbled. Somebody else had entered the room.

* * *

Steve Rogers and Thor both ran from floor to floor, trying to find the Black Widow. But, as Thor feared, she was gone. How could she have slipped away so easily? So quickly? He didn't know and he doubted Rogers did either.

The captain ran up to him. "Well," he huffed, hands on hips, "she's gone. I can't believe this." He shook his head and looked apologetically at Thor. "I'm sorry, Thor-"

"Do not apologize," Thor interjected. "You are not at fault-"

"We  _both_  are," said the mortal. "We should have been watching her, we  _knew_  she's a spy and we still..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "We don't have time for this."

"You are right. We should-"

"Guys!" Bruce Banner suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor, running toward them.

Rogers scratched his head. "We lost her-"

"I know," said the scientist.

"What? How?"

Banner smiled. "JARVIS. He's up and running. SHIELD came through for us."

Both captain and thunderer's eyes lit up. "And how does this...Jarvis help us?" asked Thor, eagerness crawling up his legs.

"He's already told me where Agent Romanoff is - she's close to ground level. She's been making her way down using the elevator shaft. JARVIS?" he asked to the open air.

 _"Agent Romanoff has disappeared from my sensors,"_  said a voice from the ceiling.

"What?!" hissed Bruce Banner.

Thor frowned. Although he wondered where the voice was coming from, he didn't have the time to ponder on it. "What does it mean? Can he not find Lady Romanoff?"

"I don't know. JARVIS, where was she last seen?"

_"I am afraid my sensors have been partially sabotaged. Everything below level two is dark."_

Bruce frowned. "Who sabotaged-" Then he grit his teeth and nodded. "Stark..."

_"So it would appear. I am afraid I cannot override his protocols without his permission."_

"Yeah," said Banner, disappointed. "I know." He turned to them with a resigned air that Thor didn't like. "Sorry, guys, I really...I thought this would help. Looks like we'll have to rely on SHIELD to find her."

Rogers stepped up. "That won't do any good. She slipped out without us even noticing; she's  _good._  We have to be better if we want to find her." He looked at Thor. "She's our only lead to the others right now..."

Banner nodded. "I know. I don't know what to do."

The three men stood in silence for a moment, the quiet and  _unmoving_  atmosphere grating on Thor's nerves. They shouldn't just be  _standing around_ , he had to find Loki! But what was he to do? The others could be anywhere...

_I will find you, brother. I will, I swear it. Just hold on._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These people got problems. Let's all hold our breaths for me to update the next chapter soon! - or not. Because we could all die.
> 
> (On a different note: it turns out that possible Thorki PWP might turn into a straight-up omegaverse fic not related to this story, instead. Still would be Thorki, I think, I'm not sure. Ideas are brewing...)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking forever with updates seems to be turning into a habit. Lol. Sorry about that but there were a few things in this chapter that I just couldn't get passed. I still don't quite like it but I was taking too long so here it is.
> 
> A general trigger warning for the latter part of this chapter. "General" because of spoilers and there's more than one thing.

It had been all-too easy. Tony had been expecting her to know, somehow, that he could see her, that she would look at the hidden camera and wink or something. But when she heard Barton groan, her apparent first instinct was to go to him, to enter possibly hostile territory to get to her partner. It might have been sweet if it weren't so obvious what she  _really_  wanted - Tony knew why she was here, why they were  _all_ here. But hadn't she been captured by Rogers and the others? Well, she wasn't one of SHIELD's top agents for nothing.

The trap was set and she had fallen for it. Not her fault, really, it was easy to assume this area would be devoid of any security, what with JARVIS being offline here and all.

Tony smirked when he watched her through the security feed, watched Romanoff fall for almost the same ruse he had used for Barton. The archer, like they all were, had been looking for Loki and Tony subdued him in the simplest way: by trapping him in a room. He then used a small electrical shock to render the agent unconscious when he messed with the panel on the wall, as Tony knew he would. He avoided telling himself it was easy to have the upper hand when they were all on his territory - he had outsmarted not one, but  _two_  SHIELD agents and he wanted to gloat.

But damn if he didn't have time for that.

The cameras on this level worked, but most of them had either not been installed or weren't yet functional on other levels. Still, he had seen Loki in the stairwell and he knew exactly where the trickster would be.  _Time to get going._

He took one last look at the two agents stuck in a room together, winked at their loud bickering, then set off to find what he was  _really_  here for. No one would stop him now.

* * *

"Get the hell out of here, Stark," hissed Agent Hill before something was thrown at her head that she easily ducked. She stood up just as the billionaire walked up, stance casual but for his hands clenched into fists.

" _You_  get the hell away from him." He paused. "I really don't want to hit a woman," he said flippantly, "but  _I will_."

Hill laughed. "This really isn't the time for jokes, Stark-"

"I beg to differ, it's  _never_  a bad time for jokes. And really," he came closer, pointing, "were you  _really_  going to do that here, with us walking around? Because: bad plan."

"Fuck you."

"Nice invite but I'm really not interested in  _you_  right now, sweetheart," countered Stark.

Loki sat up slowly and pushed his back against the wall. The room had too much clutter - boxes and crates and other assorted items - for him to simply run away, he would surely knock something over, so what should he do?

"Actually," said Stark as he rested a hand on his chin, as if thinking, "maybe that's not such a bad idea."

The woman's stance shifted, less on edge.  _Considering_  and listening. "What?"

"Yeah," said Stark, snapping a finger. "I can't believe I'm saying this but maybe we don't have to  _take turns_."

" _What?_ " hissed Hill, although she still waited.

_What is he saying?_ wondered Loki.

"Just hear me out," said the mortal man. He waved his arms about as he spoke. "Look. We obviously can't get around this without fighting, so..."

"So?"

"So we just do it at the same time. You, me, little bunny here; we can have fun together without Barton, right?"

Now Loki spoke, understanding dawning on him. Was he truly suggesting..? "Hill," he said in nearly a whisper, "please, I- I chose  _you_. We can still get out. He's no match for you. I said I would go with you, please..."

Stark laughed as Hill looked to Loki. "Seriously?" scoffed Stark, amused. "You think you can  _trust him_?" He pointed to her. "Hey, weren't you the paranoid one? 'Don't trust him, don't listen' bla bla, whatever you were saying, and now  _this_? Fuck that, you  _know_  he'll fuck you over the second you leave here - and not in the good way," he added, smirking.

And suddenly, when Hill's eyes moved slowly to Loki's, he knew,  _he knew_  what she was thinking, that she was  _considering_  Stark's offer.

Loki shook his head desperately. "I won't betray you," he said, trying to sound convincing. "I  _swore_  it to you. I wouldn't-"

"Shut up!" she shouted suddenly, making Loki flinch back. Her half-smile turned to Stark. "What did you have in mind?"

The trickster god blanched.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait," Rogers waved a hand about. "Why would Stark do that to his own, uh, machine if he and the others left? I mean, if they left, what's the use of sabotaging his own creation?"

Banner nodded, thinking. "You're right, it doesn't make sense. JARVIS can only function on Stark's property and if they were gone there's really no point to adding protocols that stop JARVIS from functioning inside his own tower." Then, as if something had just hit him, his eyes went wide. "Oh my God," he mumbled. "I know where they are."

* * *

Before the two could walk back to Loki, Hill asked, "Where the hell is Barton, anyway?"

"Hm?" Stark looked behind him, then back at her. "I  _may_  have managed to lock him in a room two levels down." He shrugged when she smiled, clearly impressed.

"I take it you'd have done the same to me-?"

"Yep, course I would - but that's not gonna happen so we make the best of it...right?" he eyed her suspiciously, waiting.

She waited a moment, then nodded. "Right."

Stark didn't look entirely convinced. "Right... Well, if for some reason you get any  _ideas_ , I just locked down this whole level. No one's getting out without  _my permission_." He smiled.

Hill didn't seem to find it amusing. "You  _what_?"

"Let's face it, I'm no match for you two  _super_ agents without my suit; I needed insurance. You can have your way with Mister Trickster here until your eyeballs bleed but you'd never escape after. And," he shrugged, clearly winning whatever was happening, "if I remember,  _you're_  the only one no one knows is here. Isn't that right,  _Agent Hill_?"

She bristled at his tone but said nothing.

"Right," continued Stark. " _So_ , you can beat me up, take him, but you can't  _get out_  without me." He put his arms out in an apparent attempt at placating the woman. "Nothing personal, Hill."

Loki watched her settle, her demeanor suddenly  _accepting_  as she looked to him. "Fine," she stated. "As long as  _he's_ a part of the deal, I don't give a damn if you're here."

Stark's loud clap made Loki jump. "Great!" the mortal smiled. "So what'd you want, top or bottom?"

" _Shut up._ "

* * *

Thor couldn't believe it, the  _entire time_ , here, in this building! Could it be true? Banner had apparently looked at the building's schematics, briefly, when he was searching for Romanoff. Stark had been expanding the lower levels and converting them into an underground SHIELD complex - no doubt at Fury's request, or so Rogers had said.

It was Thor's first instinct, to simply fly to the lowest level from outside the building, but he knew that kind of rash behavior wouldn't help in the long run. He had no idea where to look or what to expect so he went down with the others instead, even with his impatience biting at his heels.

The level below the first floor apparently couldn't be reached by the elevator, thus they took the stairs, with Thor bounding down with one leap and skipping the steps altogether. Rogers followed suit, although Banner was more cautious. Huffing, he joined the other two at a large metal door blocking their path.

"Damn," said Banner. "I was afraid of this."

"Can you open this door?" asked Thor. It looked like a...very heavy door.

"I don't know... without JARVIS..." he shook his head, eyeing the door. "It's a blast door, a  _Stark_  made one. Won't be easy to break through."

Impatience catching up to him, and frustrated at being  _so close_ , Thor immediately stepped forward and hit the surface with Mjolnir.

"Woah!" Banner exclaimed, although he barely flinched, his manner still so calm. Rogers stepped back a little, eyebrows raised.

The door, however, was barely dented.  _Damn this!_  Thor struck it again, then again. And again, the door dented, but very little. "How is this possible?!" he raged. He knew it wasn't the time for his anger, but this was ridiculous! How could a mere mortal door stand up to the might of his hammer?

"I don't mean to...uh," began Banner. "I mean, Stark's pretty inventive. And..." he walked up to the door as Thor tried to control his breathing. "I  _think_  this door might be made out of some kind of adamantium alloy...maybe?"

"What about vibranium?" asked the captain.

Banner nodded, fingers tracing the metal. "Maybe. I really can't tell. I don't know that much about metallurgy - that's more Stark's field," he shrugged sheepishly.

"Then what are we to do?" asked Thor, desperately hoping there was some way around. Because what if Loki was right behind this door? What if the others were hurting him now, with Thor just outside, uselessly doing nothing to help?

The scientist stepped away, a hand over his mouth as he thought. He turned his back to them. "I...I'm not sure. Just let me think for a second."

* * *

When Loki was deposited on a table nearby, he felt numb. His back hit the hard surface, jarring his frayed nerves. He fought back, albeit weakly, knowing it was pointless.

Stark caught his wrists as he dragged Loki a little toward him, his legs all but dangling off the edge. "Now, come on. Behave," said the inventor, smirking.

"God, you're not going to  _talk_  while this is going on, are you?" asked Hill as she removed her trousers.

Stark smiled at her. "Nice panties."

She rolled her eyes as she looked him over. "Nice  _ass_ , Stark," she said with heavy sarcasm. "And, really, did you want to fuck  _him_ , or  _me_? Cut the chit-chat."

"Whatever you say," he shrugged. "Haven't had a threesome in  _ages_. Seriously, like a whole week."

"Shut up, everyone knows Pepper Potts would skin you alive if you tried anything-"

"Hey,  _hey_. Who said Pepper wasn't there?" he smiled again.

_What are they talking about?_  Loki didn't care. Why should he. Still, if they kept going, all the better to delay the inevitable.  _Thor is looking for me._  He had to be. Wouldn't he? Or would he even care -  _Of course he cares._  He knew Thor; even after all Loki had done, he would still forgive him. That was just... _Thor_.

...Or so he hoped.

"Who is Pepper Potts?" asked Loki. He couldn't stop his voice from shaking.

Stark looked at him, surprised, still holding Loki's wrists. "Huh? Oh...uh, my girlfriend. Sorta." Hill gave him a  _look_. "Well, I mean - what the hell, Hill? Since when is my love life any of  _SHIELD's_ business?"

"What do you mean?" tried Loki.  _Just keep him talking. He's a talker._  "Is she your lover...or-or not?"

"Now I  _know_  it's none of  _your_  damn business, Prancer."

"Where is she now?"

The mortal paused. "Uh...I- I guess she was on a flight out..."

" _Ignore_  him, Stark," hissed Hill.

But Stark seemed lost in his thoughts, suddenly, eyes on the far wall. "I mean...I tried calling her when... And...and I got ahold of her after- after it happened, when it was over. I didn't, uh... She was...crying..."

Suddenly, Hill slapped Loki across the face. Both he and Stark jumped. "What the fuck?!" Stark yelled as he stepped back.

"He's  _distracting_  you," said Hill as she moved closer.

The hit hadn't hurt very much, but Loki was caught off-guard, his plans falling through his fingers like sand through a shattered hourglass. And when Hill jumped onto the table, then onto him, his suddenly rising panic kept his scheming thoughts at bay. No... He  _needed_  them right now, but he couldn't  _think_ , knowing what was coming.

"Uh, right," stated Stark, stepping toward the two. "W-where was I?"

" _Shutting up_ , I think," said Hill, looking back at him.

But it seemed Stark couldn't stop, even now. "You know the mechanics of this are a  _bit_  tricky..."

"I know what I'm doing, just  _stop talking_  and get in here before I change my mind and knock the fuck out of you and have him all to myself." She smirked, looking back at him.

Stark squinted at her. "Fine, whatever." Yet, he hesitated, if but for a moment. "Right...right."

Loki didn't know what to think, but his chance was gone, lost and swept away, along with his hope of ever escaping this thrice-cursed planet.

_Thor will never find me in time._  He knew that now, and now he had to accept it.

X - X

There was a time when Loki had been attracted to people. He found them fascinating, beautiful, lively, warm, sometimes humorous, sometimes not, smiling at the edge of his sight, bright in Asgard's sun and wonderfully  _willing_ , if he but sought them out. But reality soon set in. Women found him too weak and feminine -  _not what they wanted_ ; men only thought of him as something to be used, the pretty second prince meant for little else other than to be looked at and mocked -  _a_ _rgr_.

Loki no longer felt attraction toward people. Was there any wonder why? When they took what he wasn't willing to give? He should blame his body, he knew that, it  _wasn't their fault_ , just his treacherous _Jotun_  biology that changed him in ways he couldn't control - changed  _others_. But did they regret afterward? No. They would have forced him anyway, wouldn't they?

Inevitability. It always found him. Just as he would  _always_  have found out what he truly was; not a son of Odin, not Asgardian, son of the enemy, unwanted, good for nothing except to be used, and  _this_ proved it more than anything. He could never escape his fate. A pawn for Odin or a pawn for mortals, what was the difference?  _Everyone_  would use him, that hadn't changed even after...he fell...

But...

But...what was he to Thor?

The mortals surrounding him snapped him back. He ground his teeth when the man entered him. He felt the tears falling down his face and refused to look, turning his face. He already hurt from the earlier abuse but it hardly mattered now. He was  _tired_. Tired of fighting the mortals, tired of avoiding what always happened, tired of...himself.

_I can't..._

The woman was above him but he didn't feel her, his mind refusing to acknowledge his body. She moved, a silhouette through his tears.

The man was somewhere out of sight, but he too Loki didn't feel. Not anymore.

The god cried, but it wasn't because of them. He felt his own thoughts, growing in the dark, but didn't want them.

_I can't...I shouldn't._

He shook his head. So afraid, suddenly.

_Don't._

He felt around above him, he somehow knew it would be there.

_What would Thor say? What would he do?_

He had no family, no friends. Everyone used him, just something to be discarded, like he was nothing. There was no love. No family.

_Thor. He is._

No one wanted him, not  _him_ , not truly, just something to take advantage of-

The shard of metal felt heavy in his hands. He gripped it tightly, enough that the metal edges cut into his fingers.

_Enough..._

_No more._

_Thor, please..._

_Enough._

_I can't take this anymore._

_Brother, please forgive me.._

_Enough!_

He plunged it into his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story was _so_ not going in this direction when I first started writing it, but... that's how it is, sometimes; they just write themselves. But don't worry, this isn't the end! There's at least one more chapter after this, maybe two.
> 
> Also, I hope you guys can tell what's going on at the end. I was intentionally vague about the rape because it seemed...irreverent? to go into too much detail given what happens next. Hope it's not confusing.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on splitting this into two chapters because it's so long, but I think it works better as one. This is the final chapter!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's been keeping up and reviewing/reading my fic. You guys are the best. :3

Someone screamed.

Blood red.  _No wait. Is it blood..? It_ is  _blood!_  Stark's hands swam before his face, and...someone else's. Her fingers worked frantically at another's throat, holding down, panicked.

Tony's back was against the wall, his frame sitting and shaking. He didn't know what he was doing here, or even  _where_ he was right now.

"Where...where am I?" he asked, voice nearly too small to hear.

"Stark, help me!" screamed the woman, her voice was familiar but he couldn't place it.

He stood up and, in a daze, walked the few steps toward her. She breathed harshly, breath in and out in a panic.  _Hill?_  He had never seen her so frantic - never could have even imagined. Wasn't she Fury's second? What could cause her to panic so much?

"Please, please..." she whispered with trembling breath. "I...I can't...we didn't- I don't remember, but I...I  _do._ " He suddenly noticed how wetness streaked down her face. _What is she saying?_  "Please  _don't_ ," she continued, as if heedless of the desperate words tumbling from her mouth. "We did this... _we- I_  did this. I can't believe-" she looked back at him. "Dammit, Tony, help me!"

Snapped back, Tony blinked rapidly, clearing his vision. "L-Loki?"

The god was on his back on a table, his upper torso and neck covered in blood, the red liquid streaming from his slightly open mouth. He was almost completely naked, and... _Oh fuck._ Stark looked down and shut his eyes tight.  _So am I..._  So was Hill.

He didn't have time to think on what had happened - on  _anything_ , so he rushed forward and helped the agent cover Loki's neck wound.

"What the hell happened?" asked Stark, his voice nearly a squeak; he really couldn't care less right now.

Hill shook her head deeply, slowly. "Don't ask me that, don't ask me that," she repeated it several times, almost angrily as more tears fell.

Feeling for a pulse, Tony felt the blood drain from his own face; he couldn't find one. Next, he wondered why it mattered so much - why it  _distressed_  him so much that the guy who tried to take over the world didn't have a heartbeat.

An image flashed before his eyes. Loki, with his face wet, crying, although Stark didn't know why. Next, the god was on the floor, and behind his bar in his tower, fighting with him, trying _so hard_  to avoid...something. There was more than anger there, there was...fear. Tony didn't know what to think. Then, it all came back to him, all at once. Of Loki in the quinjet, fearful and hopeful at once when lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the sky. Of leather and a cold familiar floor, of a warm shaking body and of Maria Hill close by. He shook his head. It was all a jumble, coming in disorganized, random flashes; the briefing room on the helicarrier, his tower, long unfinished corridors, pushing Steve Rogers on the quinjet, Loki's wide eyes and Thor's angry glare-  _Loki, Loki, Loki..._

_What the hell have I done?_

His eyes moved to Hill's. She knew, too.

_I can't let this happen. We did this...we did this!_

A rumbling in the floor and a crash of metal and concrete broke through the room suddenly. Both he and Hill leaned over Loki, trying to protect him as debris flew passed them, all around.

The sight of the Hulk crashing through the room - and continuing on his way to the next - made Stark inhale sharply and hold his breath. For a moment, he thought,  _Fuck, he's gonna kill us._ Then, unbidden, his thought was:  _'Death by Hulk' does have a nice ring to it._  He immediately shook his thoughts away when Thor -  _Thor, shit!_  - ran into the room, hammer held high.

"Step away from him!" the thunder god roared.

Anyone else would have scrambled away, but both the SHIELD agent and the inventor just  _couldn't_ , not when they had just... They had to make it right, they couldn't leave him.

"We can't!" yelled Stark, voice shaking.  _'Death by thunder god' has a nice ring, too._  Although he'd just as soon avoid it. "He's dying! He's- he doesn't have a pulse, we can't let go!"

Thor's eyes went wide as he rushed forward and immediately dropped his hammer on the floor at the sight of his brother covered in blood. "No..." he shook his head determinedly. "No. It cannot- Loki?"

"We...we can't-" said Hill, "we can't let go...We can't let go or he could die."

A shiver ran through Thor as tears fell from his cheeks. "His heart stops..." mumbled the god as his hand fell on his brother's chest.

The ground shook as the Hulk rampaged elsewhere. Steve Rogers stood next to them, watching in a silent sorrow for his new friend.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, reaching even underground. Thor's hand moved to Loki's neck as the two mortals let go, stepping back but still lingering. They couldn't just  _leave_ , not now, after they had caused-

"Loki, no!" Thor wailed, head falling to his brother's bloodied chest. "Brother...please."

Again, thunder shook the ground, and... _What the hell?_  thought Stark. Another loud vibration shook the foundations of the building, then  _another_.

"Is that an earthquake?" asked Steve.

The walls shook periodically as they listened to Thor cry over his brother's body. Then, when a loud boom that threw everyone except Thor to the ground crashed through the building, Tony suddenly realized they were all in danger.

"Oh no..." Tony mumbled. "I-I think this is bad."

"What?" Rogers yelled as another crash sent them falling to the floor.

"He's a fucking thunder god!" Stark screamed over the growing rumbling. "And he just lost his brother!" A brightness and a violent jolt made all of them cover their heads. "And I think he's bringing lightning into the building!"

He really could kill them all. But-

Lightning. _Lightning._

Stark squinted against the intermittent flashes, finding the brothers. Thor didn't seem aware of what was happening around him, too distraught to notice his lightning crashing through the floors and walls. Amazingly, he hadn't struck or killed any of them.

 _He's a god- He could take it. Loki's a god!_ Stark jerked to his feet, then ignored Steve's protest as he rushed over to Thor.

"Thor!" he screamed over the rumbling. "Thor, you have to stop! I know how to save him,  _I know how to save him!_  But you have to stop!"

Sniffling, Thor's wet face turned to him, and, almost immediately, the cacophony died down, distant thunder rumbling. Then, quiet.  _Damn._   _That quick? He really is a thunder god._

"What?" mumbled Thor in confusion, still on the edge of his grief. Stark knew it could all start up again any moment.

"Just listen to me, because there's not much to lose at this point."

Lightning. Any human would be fried in an instant if Thor struck them with lightning, but Loki wasn't human, far from it. He tried to explain as best as he could between his short breaths. He wasn't a doctor but, as he said, what was there to lose? Loki was already dead.

"Could that work?" asked Rogers, stepping up, although he looked ready to hide everyone behind his shield if need be.

"I don't know," returned Stark. "JARVIS?! Help us out here?" he yelled to the ceiling. If anyone knew, the AI would. He was glad he'd activated him in this part of the tower.

_"Despite appearances, his heart has not completely stopped. If the lightning does not otherwise kill him, it could work, sir."_

"The hell is he saying?!" screamed Barton. Thor appeared in a daze but he focused on Tony suddenly, asking the same question with his eyes. Where was Banner when he needed him?

"I really don't know," said Stark, "but it's his only shot-  _our_  only shot. Can you tone down the power of it?" he asked Thor. "Maybe direct it a little?"

"This is insane," said Hill, "even under controlled circumstances, but..." Her eyes said it all. "But you're right, it's his only shot."

Thor nodded and summoned his hammer to his hand. "Step away," he said as they did so, although there wasn't any safe place for them in here.

"Maybe..." Steve looked to Stark and Hill, "maybe we should go to another-"

"We're not leaving," they both responded at once.

"Right."

* * *

Loki awoke with a terrible scream torn from his lungs. Searing, burning pain ripped through his body, causing convulsions that stopped only when he felt a warm pressure on his chest and heard a long, relieved sigh escape someone's lips - someone so near yet so far. And...familiar.

_Who is that?_

He coughed and heaved, his stomach expelling what little was in it as someone helped him to his side. He gagged and felt tears fall from his face, just as he noticed there was a hand around his throat.

Eyes blurry, he laid back down and saw a figure moving above him. Blonde hair and blue eyes and...

_Thor..._

Loki tried to jerk up, but when he did the pain shooting through his body prevented his movement. He next tried to speak, but found he couldn't. Gasping, he realized Thor's hand was around his throat because there was something wrong with it.

 _What's happened to me?_  Thor was crying, yet he looked happy, relieved.  _Am I alright, then?_

"...need to. Just breathe, brother. Breathe." Thor's voice finally broke through the haze. The thunder god turned his head around as if speaking to someone else. "His magic is healing him quickly. He will be weak for some time because of blood loss, and my lightning, but his heat has passed." Thor sniffled and returned his gaze to Loki, eyes filled with something he didn't know what to do with.

 _...Heat?_  Loki didn't quite understand his brother's words.

Loki reached up to his neck just as he felt the last of his skin stitching itself together there. Thor smiled, then moved to hold the side of Loki's head, leaning close. "Rest, brother, do not move. You are gravely injured. Let your magic heal you."  _My magic?_

Heat. Magic. His neck being hurt. Then, someone else stepped up.  _Stark._  Loki's eyes widened.  _Stark!_  Next, Maria Hill, then Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff.

On instinct, Loki gasped and tried to scramble backwards.  _No!_  His words wouldn't come through his still-healing throat, he couldn't ask Thor to protect him.  _They'll hurt me again!_  He couldn't think or speak or  _do anything_ -

"Brother!" yelled Thor, still so close. "You are safe!"

"Why don't you guys  _back up_?" said someone -  _Steve Rogers?_

Immediately, everyone was out of Loki's sight, but that didn't make him feel any better. He clung to Thor as best he could, trying to pull up his legs. He next noticed that he was naked except for Thor's cape draped over him.  _No, please._  He looked to Thor, desperate and hurt and not knowing what to think of  _anything_  going on around him.

"It is  _alright_ ," said Thor in a steady voice that rumbled through his chest. The conviction and steadfastness of his voice almost made Loki's fears dissipate.

Loki coughed and let his annoyance push his magic to his throat, to finish repairing his vocal chords. He coughed a last time before the words came. "Th-Thor." The elder god smiled, but Loki wasn't feeling that relief just yet. "Brother, I...I can't... Keep them away from me,  _please_."  _I can't take anymore..._

Despite the ache in his body and his embarrassment, Loki managed to curl up against Thor's chest and hide further under the crimson cape. He noticed his own chest and neck was sticky with blood, and found that Thor's face and hands were covered as well. Looking around, he saw the mortals standing awkwardly on the other side of the room, trying not to look at him.

 _Good,_  thought Loki. But what had happened? He searched his memory, then cringed when he recalled what he had tried to do-  _tried_ to do. But... it hadn't worked. Somehow, he was alive.

Thor looked to the mortals as well and, leaning in, said, "They saved you, brother."

The trickster flinched.  _Saved_  him. Saved? Weren't they the cause, as well?

Stark and Hill were terribly disheveled, clothes and hands bloody, a shirt inside out and a shoelace untied. They both looked elsewhere, as if unable to look the mischief god in the eye. Barton and Romanoff, too, stood awkwardly...

But why? Was this guilt? Why would they care? Loki was their enemy - what rights did he have against hurt when he was nothing to them, nothing to this world? He didn't belong here anymore than Thor did, although of course they had come to accept Thor, and so quickly. Typical.

Thoughts of his brother drew him back to the blonde still holding him, arms steady and squeezing perhaps a little too much.

"Are you alright, brother?" asked Thor in a gentle voice.

Before Loki could answer, the ground trembled slightly, as if something heavy were walking toward-

Loki tried to scramble away - scramble  _anywhere_  else - when he saw the large form of the Hulk moving through the large hole at the back of the room. Barton had told him of the beast and Loki wasn't particularly keen to greet the monster. Thor, too, tensed, holding Loki in a protective embrace, although he didn't brandish Mjolnir just yet.

"Hulk!" Steve Rogers suddenly stepped into view. The green monster bared his teeth and turned in surprise to the captain, his attention having been on the brothers. "Everything's fine now," he stated firmly but without raising his voice. "We need Banner. Can you...let him come back?"

Hulk growled under his breath, but, albeit slowly, turned back into the unassuming mortal named Bruce Banner. Stumbling slightly and gripping his tattered trousers, Banner blinked at everyone. "Uh. Did we save him?"

"Yes." Thor's smile was melancholy. He looked to Loki, then, slowly and with purpose, to the others. His expression was suddenly grim, but not accusatory. Loki didn't care to think too hard on that at the moment; he was too tired. He fell into a fitful sleep soon after, still clutching to his brother.

X - X

A gentle hand raked through Loki's hair and he leaned into it, sighing. He hadn't felt this comfortable in what seemed like ages and he relished the warm feel of arms wrapped around him, a soft cloth cocooning him. His mind drifted and he let it, as if it knew this wasn't the time for  _thought_ , but for feeling. He inhaled deeply and let the warm soothe him.

His reverie was soon interrupted by voices, murmuring somewhere near.

 _No, no, no..._  He wanted to sleep! He only knew warmth, and closeness, and the smell of someone who only meant  _comfort_  and that's all Loki needed to know to relax. Yet... The voices, distant voices, sent a chill down his spine and he wanted to block them out. They meant pain and misery and he knew they would drag him away from the encompassing safe net he was nestled in. He didn't want that.

" _...Brother._ " A new voice lingered. Deep and calm like the ocean after a terrible storm, it too brought him comfort. " _Brother..._ "

 _I don't want to wake. Don't make me wake._  Loki felt something on his face, touching gently and wiping. It was wet, but warm.

" _You are safe now._ "

The voice tugged at him, tried to bring him back. Soft things moved around him, wrapped him more securely.

" _I am angry still, but...I love you._ " The last words echoed.  _I love you._  The phrase sounded strange, somehow. Who loved him, then? Was it true? Surely not.

Loki felt his own arm move, as if to touch the warmth nearby, but his movements proved sluggish and clumsy. He wasn't even sure he'd moved at all.  _What is wrong with me?_  Slowly, he tried to open his eyes but a heaviness weighed them down. His awareness, at least, was coming back to him. He heard the distant voices again, and he didn't want to hear them now any more than before.

"...can't just hand him over. Despite what's happened he still tried to..." The voice trailed off again. What did the words mean? It suddenly didn't matter as the rumbling voice, so much nearer and now clearer, started again.

"I will take you home. You're safe now. I won't leave you again, I give you my word."

Thor. It was Thor speaking to him. Loki should have known but his mind was so lost in the warmth he hadn't cared. There was still warmth and comfort and he realized he didn't want it to end. His eyes remained closed and his brother still held to him, and he was apparently wiping Loki down with a soft, wet cloth. Loki wouldn't have admitted it, not under any circumstance, but he liked the feeling. He hadn't felt this carefree, or this  _safe_ , in so very long. He had to cling to it a bit longer.

The voice of one of the mortals filtered in again, although a different one this time.

"...all on  _us_. You saw what we did, what fucking  _half_  of us so-called 'heroes' did - hell,  _more_  of us, if you count Hill-"

"That doesn't excuse what  _he_  did, what he was  _planning_  to do. Just because extenuating circumstances interfered, it doesn't mean he gets a free pass. He tried to  _take over the world_ , Stark, killed people, are you honestly saying we should just let that go?"

"Let it go? No. But that still doesn't change the fact that  _we_  did something to  _him_. I don't give a fuck whose damn fault it was, I still can't get the image of him...I can't get the-" Stark faltered, his words failing. A woman picked up where he left off.

"I agree with Stark, sir."

"Hill-"

"And quite frankly, it doesn't matter  _what_  we want; he might be a criminal to us but it's ultimately  _Asgard's_  right to punish him, not ours."

"And," someone else spoke now. Was that Steve Rogers? "We so happen to have a representative of their planet, right here."

"He's his  _brother_ ," countered Fury. Because who else would be superior to Hill? "He's hardly an objective party-"

"He's also a fucking  _prince_. They both are." Stark again. "And this entire stupid argument is moot anyway, did you _see_  what Thor almost did to this building? I'll be rebuilding for a month after that. He's not gonna let anybody - and I mean  _anybody_  take his brother away. So again,  _it doesn't fucking matter_. Let's all shut the hell up and just..." He didn't continue. A long silence followed.

Loki almost opened his eyes. He didn't know what to think of the conversation, he was still hung up on the fact that he was  _safe_  now, his heat was over - how could he possibly even contemplate  _repercussions_  now? Punishments, consequences, any of it? He had invaded this world, attempted to subjugate them, and, right now, he couldn't give it a second's thought.

"Brother," Thor's voice soothed, so gentle and strange that Loki had to open his eyes, even with weights pulling his lids closed.

"Thor?" his voice croaked.

Thor smiled but said nothing as he wiped Loki's face some more.

Loki mentally checked his body. He was still somewhat dirty, bloody, in some places, but it wasn't as bad. He was clothed now, with something flimsy and thin, although Thor's cape covered him as well. He was secretly glad of that. His next thought was that Thor had  _dressed him_ , had seen what... what had happened, because how could he not? He cringed at the thought. It would have been worse if one of the mortals had done it instead, yet still... Even if Thor had already known what the mortals had done - what  _more_  of them had done - he never wanted him to  _see_  the evidence of it, to see how weak Loki truly was that he couldn't stop it, could  _never_  stop it, whether it be mortals or gods or monsters trying to hurt him.  _Everyone_  always hurt him, he didn't care if  _they_  saw, but Thor... Thor never hurt Loki. The thunderer had been a stupid, selfish fool, yes, and for so many years, and yet in his own way he always looked out for his little brother. He still...

He still loved Loki. He had said so, hadn't he? Thor never lied, it wasn't in his nature. If he said it then he meant it. He  _loved_  Loki. Loki had known and yet, it hadn't sunk in until now.

Blue eyes stared into him, watching and not speaking. Abruptly, Loki couldn't help but start crying, nearly sobbing, tears bursting out.

"Loki!" Thor cradled him closer, worry wrinkling his brow. "You're safe. We're going home-"

"I'm so sorry," Loki gasped out between sharp intakes of breath. "I am s-so sorry."

"Brother..."

What was he sorry for -  _why am I sorry?_  His lips knew the answer before he did. "I'm sorry I tried to leave. I...I'm sorry I tried to leave..."

"Loki." Thor clutched his head close, foreheads touching.

"I'm sorry I left." He had died, died too many times. What had he been thinking? "I left you, I'm sorry. You wouldn't le-eave me," he sobbed. "You wouldn't- you've never. You've always been there..."

"No, I haven't. You know I haven't. I've been a terrible brother-"

" _No_ ," Loki tried to interject, shaking his head sadly, but Thor stopped him with fingers on his lips, his tears following Loki's.

"Yes," he said resolutely. "Yes, I have. I wasn't the brother I should have been. All these years I've ignored you, paid no heed to your pain." Loki heaved in a heavy breath. "When you asked for my help-" he smiled sadly. "In your own way, you asked, and I did nothing but mock you and left you in the dust to collect yourself and trudge along after me. You should have just abandoned me, but you didn't; you tried to look after me, protect me from myself, from my own stupidity and arrogance. The kingdom would have suffered." He lay Loki back down and leaned in close, both hands on the side of Loki's head. "Some day I will learn to thank you for forcing my hand, for making me show father what I was, but there is still too much hurt between us, I..." he smiled a little. "I don't know how to say the words..."

Loki moved to hold one of Thor's hands. "You don't have to say it...we..." His silver tongue didn't know what to say either, how to articulate his roiling emotions. He knew what Thor was trying to say, that he was both sorry and thankful, but that there was still too much between them for all the words to be said, for everything to be suddenly settled. And yet, he also knew that Thor was  _trying_  and that he'd set it in motion, that they  _could_  heal, even if not today, not right at this moment.

"I love you, brother-mine," said Thor. Then slowly, lovingly, the elder leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. It was light, soft like a breeze, not anything like the rough brother he had always known, and somehow, it was all the better. Thor  _had_  changed, was capable of change, and now Loki knew it.

So...if ever-stubborn Thor was capable of change, couldn't Loki change as well?

Loki smiled, even if it was small, and Thor smiled in return.

* * *

Manacles adorned his little brother's wrists, and yet it was all for show, for the  _mortals_  who still objected to Loki's relative freedom. None of the Avengers objected but there were some in their government that wanted to get their hands on the trickster god; Thor would never have allowed it, regardless.

Odin had sent a metal muzzle with Thor intended for the younger god, should it be necessary, but Thor refused to use it, now more than ever. The trickster had endured enough humiliation.

He lingered near Thor, unwilling to be parted from him for one moment - it had been that way ever since he'd awoken. He also clung to Thor whenever he could get away with it, although Thor wondered why he didn't simply do it more openly if it made him feel safer. Yet, he knew his little brother, he probably viewed it as a sign of weakness, even if no one  _else_ would think anything of the sort. The trickster's thoughts always ran that way and it wasn't likely to stop now, even if Thor insisted. They were both far too stubborn for their own good.

Thor smirked as they walked away from the mortal vehicles.

"What, brother?" Loki asked, almost mimicking Thor's smirk.

"Nothing," said Thor as he led the other with a gentle hand on his upper arm.

Too distracted with each other, both brothers were surprised to see the Avengers - plus Maria Hill - standing in a semi-circle several steps away. Erik Selvig stood some distance behind them, carrying the Tesseract in a metal and glass case, waiting for something.

Tony Stark cleared his throat and bounced on his toes awkwardly. "So, I guess this is goodbye."

Barton bit his lip and looked down, around, everywhere except at Loki. "Uh, yeah. This was, uh..." He didn't finish.

The Black Widow met Loki's eyes, but only for a moment. She looked away almost immediately, lowering her eyes, but kept her head straight. "We don't know what to say," she spoke quietly, face betraying nothing else.

Thor looked to Loki who stared right back at them. He was surprised at that, Loki didn't move or shift his position, he just looked at them, eyes stopping on each one.

Although they hadn't actually done anything wrong to Loki, both Rogers and Banner still looked uncomfortable. Even so, as if knowing his comrades couldn't bring themselves to speak, the captain spoke for them. "I...I know this isn't easy for any of us, but..." He struggled for words, thinking.

"We're sorry," Stark blurted out, eyes suddenly wide and on Loki. Although he was given to flashy and clever words, it was obvious that Stark was being entirely sincere - at least to Thor. But what would his brother think? Thor turned to him.

Loki's eyes were wide. Frowning, but wide. His mouth was slightly ajar and Thor wasn't sure  _what_  to make of the expression. His body was rigid but his breath steady, if a little hurried.

"Brother?" Thor asked, suddenly worried. Loki only stared at the others, and, to Thor's surprise, they too stared back at Loki. How...strange.

For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened. The wind blew and the sun shone brightly, and five mortal Avengers and one trickster god stared, as one thunder god glanced between them, confused.

Suddenly, Loki blinked. Then he inhaled and exhaled and looked to Thor slowly. "I'd like to go home now," he stated shortly.

Thor nodded as Erik walked forward and handed the cube to Thor. He scurried away as quickly as possible. The Avengers still said nothing, hadn't moved. Their stances were rigid but less awkward, less... _something_. Thor wasn't quite sure what.

"Loki?"

A raven-haired head nodded, then moved to hold the other end of the device as Thor offered it. As Thor moved his hand to click the device on, his little brother lowered his head and said, very quietly: "I'm sorry, too."

Thor didn't have time to see the others' reactions as he and his brother were already caught in the Tesseract's vortex, being pulled up and up, across the stars and toward home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys have enjoyed this fic! Obviously, with the ending to any story, there's always going to be that little something that you feel you've left out or you should have expanded on. That's one of the reasons I took so long with this, it was difficult to stay on track and not go off on a tangent about one thing or another (like the Avengers' POV; this was always a fic about Loki). Still, I hope it's okay the way it is.
> 
> There is a slim chance, _very_ slim, that I might add an epilogue to this. I mostly want to concentrate on finishing up _Hollow Skies_ (and a few other shorter stories waiting in the wings) but I figured it might be nice to see what happens with Loki in Asgard after they get back.


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